Dear England by James Graham. The National Theatre, Southbank, London SE1 to 11 August 2023. 4****. William Russell
Thrilling and beautifully staged by director Rupert Goold on yet another amazing Es Devline set this account of Gareth Southgate's time as manager of England is one even people like me, who couldn't care less about the England football team bring things home, will enjoy. At the centre is a fine portrait of Southgate from Joseph Fiennes holding it all together starting in 1995 when he lost a fatal penalty in Euro 96 and moving on to his arrival as a temporary replacement for Sam Allardyce when he faced the problem of building a side of his own, one that was cohesive and not just a collection of overpaid stars. It makes oddly enough for gripping theatre and while one knows that they did not bring it home from Qatar it doesn't matter. The national must have the fittest cast in London - it is for footballers to judge their penalty kicks but they certainly looked authentic and they are never at rest. Also fascinating is the work done by the psychiatrist Pippa Grange (Gina Mckee) brought in by Southgate to help his men face up to their fears - penalty shootouts, as Southgate knows only too well, if missed can blight a life. In the second half it all gets a mite political - it is, after all a Graham play. The caricature appearances of Theresa May, Liz Truss and inevitably Boris Johnson, while making the points he wants, are pretty dreadful but it does not matter. The set, a vast series of revolves on the Olivier stage on and off which a set of plywood lockers slide an, over which hands an illuminated halo, inside which statistics get projected, is a thing to wonder at. It had the audience on its feet straight away at the end and for once it was totally justified.
Jordan Pickford - Josh Barrow; Gary Lineker/Sven-Goran Erikson/Boris Johnson/Wayne Rooney - Gunnar Cauthery; Harry Kane - Will Close; Alex Scott/ Roxanne/theresa May - Crystal Condie; Gareth Southgate - Joseph Fiennes; Jordan Henderson - Will Fletcher; Sam Allardyce/ Fabio Capella/ Panama Manager/ Physio phil - Sean Gilder; Bukaya Saka - Ebenezer Gyau; Marcus Rashford - Darragh Hand. Greg Flaskre/ Gianni Infantino/Matt Le Tissier - John Hodgkinson; Harry Maguire - Adam Hugill; Pippa Grange - Gina Mckee; Jadon Sancho/ Keiran Trippier/ Raheem Sterling- Kei Matsena; Dele Ali - Lewis Shepherd; Mike Webster - Paul Thornley; Greg Dyje/Steve Holland/Graham Taylor - Tony Turner; Eric Dier - Ryan Whittle.
Ensemble - Nick Barclay; Tashinga Bepete; Bill Capie; Will Harrison-Wallace; Miranda Heath.
Director - Rupert Goold; Set Designer - Es Devlin; Costume Designer - Evie Gurney; Lighting Designer - Jon Clark; Co-Movement Directors - Ellen Kane & Hannes Langolf; Co-Sound Designers - Dan Balfour & Tim Gibbons; Video Designer - Ash J Woodward; Dialect Coach; Richard Ryder. Production photographs - Marc Brenner.
