A play about more than just football.
James Graham’s ‘Dear England’ kicked off In Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre this week, as part of the companies UK Tour.
‘Dear England’ revolves around former England manager, Gareth Southgate, and how he deals with his penalty miss at Euro ’96, throughout the play.
Graham’s play also addresses the pressures of elite sport, mental health in men and the role of the national football team, and what England means to people.
The stage show runs in chronological order, mainly focusing on Gareth Southgate’s time as England manager, from the World Cup in Russia 2018, all the way to Euro 2024.
Southgate, played by David Sturzaker, is the first actor seen on stage. We see a young Gareth Southgate, anxious, scared, uneasy, and we relive his Euro 96 crucial penalty miss.
Throughout the play, we see flashbacks to this moment, not only the impact it had on football and the nation, but more the impact on a young man.
Following on from the penalty, the first act then shifts into England, after Euro 2016: a nation stripped of hope, national pride and belief.
Southgate is announced as the new England caretaker boss, and the ensemble members, represent the English public, and react to this news.
The mention of Southgate’s penalty crops up frequently, and Sturzaker portrays a broken and unconfident Southgate perfectly in the opening scenes.
England’s squad is then selected for the Russia World Cup, and the audience meet key members of the squad.
The actors portray the players as disjointed and lacking confidence at first, with regular changing room bust ups and negative thoughts surrounding playing for England, in a major tournament.
To fix this, Southgate adds a key member to his backroom staff, psychologist Pippa Grange, played by Samantha Womack.
Womack plays the role of Grange professionally, encouraging the players to open up about their feelings throughout the play.
The play then moves through the World Cup in Russia, mainly focusing on how to overcome the pressure of penalties.
This is shown smartly by the players, who act out the full penalty triumph against Colombia, with slow motion actions, encouraging words and realistic recreations.
The use of a background screen showing graphics, videos and tense background music, was extremely effective at this particular moment, as well as throughout.
The most noticeable thing in all of the penalty shootouts is Southgate watching on, alone in the shadows, showing to the audience his fears when it comes to penalties.
The second act focuses more on the development of the players throughout Southgate’s England reign.
Graham scopes in on key issues the squad face as young men, such as racial abuse, confidence and masculinity in a footballing environment.
The most striking scene of the play revolves around the Euro 2020 penalty defeat to Italy.
Bukayo Saka, played by Jass Beki, stands at the spot, crowded by the ensemble, who represent the one’s responsible for racially abusing Saka and teammates, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford, following the three’s penalty misses.
Beki shows Saka to be a broken young man, not only feeling the pressure of taking a penalty, but also the fear of receiving racial abuse, if he missed.
A striking monologue then follows, with Saka (Beki), apologising to the nation and addressing the horrific racial abuse he received.
The audience are then transported from Euro 2020 straight into the Qatar World cup, with the ensemble representing new England stars such as Jude Bellingham.
Once again, as in all of the tournaments, the main focus is the pressure of taking a penalty as an England player.
Harry Kane, played strikingly by Oscar Gough, stands alone, as we saw a young Southgate do in the opening scene, about to take a penalty.
Gough throughout the play, shows how Kane deals with the pressures of being picked as England captain, as well as opening up about his issues with speech.
Graham perfectly repeats the opening scene, with Southgate and Kane alone on stage prior to a penalty, just how a young Southgate was in the opening scene.
Kane misses the penalty – England are out. The main response following the penalty is how much support Kane receives from his teammates, which Southgate didn’t receive following his miss in 96.
In added time, Graham shows a modern England side, hope to the nation restored, and Thomas Tuchel taking over.
Southgate (Sturzaker), is shown to have created a new England identity, and a group of confident young men.
Graham’s play focuses on more than just football, and really magnifies on the issues young men face, in elite sport.
You can catch ‘Dear England’, in Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre, until Saturday 17th January.
Full Time.
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