Dear England review: This reboot takes England into extra time
Here we go again, again. If making us relive the England men’s team repeatedly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory seemed cruel 18 months ago, that cruelty has only been compounded by the addition of yet of another tournament in which Gareth Southgate’s young team came tantalisingly close to lifting a first trophy in almost six decades.
James Graham’s play, first staged in June 2023, initially covered the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the delayed 2020 Euros played in 2021 on home soil and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. It has now been updated and rejigged to include the full Southgate Saga, which ended after the 2024 Euros in Germany, when England were edged out in the final by Spain.
It’s an unusual privilege for a playwright to get a second stab at the same material and it’s testament to how well-loved Dear England has proven following a sold out run at the National Theatre and a wildly popular West End transfer.
This version is largely more of the same, a play about football that’s really a play about the ephemeral nature of Englishness and the power of being nice to each other, themes that seem more relevant than ever in the first months of 2025.
The superlative Joseph Fiennes makes way for Gwilym Lee who, while not quite filling the sizable football boots of his predecessor, nevertheless proves an adept mimic of Southgate’s brand of infectious mundanity. This Southgate is a man still haunted by the moment that defined both his career and his life: that penalty miss against Germany in Euro 96.
When he stumbles into the England manager’s job, almost by accident, he sets about creating an atmosphere of mutual respect, trust and even… love? With the help of psychologist Pippa Grange (now played by Liz White), he has his players discussing their fears and keeping mood journals.
And it seems to work, with the team recording their best ever run of results. The key moments are retold through dramatically choreographed reenactments, on-stage commentary, archive footage and even a touch of interpretive dance.
This is a play so well written and acted that you find yourself hoping – even believing – that the crucial penalties missed by Rashford, Sancho, Saka (all in the 2021 final) and Kane (2022) might somehow go the other way, that England might have actually won and we just… forgot. And because of that, it hurts all over again when they don’t.
The update is, for the most part, pretty seamless. Incorporating the four tournaments overseen by Southgate gives Dear England a sense of closure that was lacking from the original. It does slightly mess with Graham’s three act structure – Russia, England, Qatar – but this was already a little flawed given Qatar was something of an anticlimax after the highs of Wembley. The quest for brevity also means that Euro 2024 feels a little glossed over.
But these are niggles: overall, it’s another triumph, riveting from start to finish even if you’ve seen it all before.
The morning after press night, Southgate led the national news after giving a lecture about the need for positive role models for young men. After reviving the beleaguered England squad, he’s now trying to save the nation’s boys from the perils of “gaming, gambling and pornography”. A lovely bloke, and Dear England is a lovely celebration of his legacy.