The Theatre Royal in Nottingham is proudly playing host this week to Dear England, the Olivier Award winning National Theatre production that just so happens to be the brainchild of esteemed local writer James Graham. This is extra fitting because the theatre celebrates its 160th birthday this week, with a free open day on Saturday including backstage tours to mark the occasion. How wonderful to be showcasing homegrown talent by way of celebration. This play, which premiered in 2023, charts the efforts of a certain Sir Gareth Southgate who is working with the top football team in the country, seeking to soothe all the years of national hurt and take England to the promised land of victory on the world stage. Along the way, it promises to explore the pressures of being involved in elite sport, and the role of the national men’s football team in the wider psyche of the nation.
At the heart of the piece throughout is David Sturzaker as Gareth Southgate, whose understated dignity and emotional intelligence anchor the ever unfolding drama. Sturzaker perfectly captures Southgate’s inner confidence, his famously hesitant vocal cadences and his ever so expressive eyebrows. This is as good a performance of a real life character as you’ll find, and although we are clearly watching a fictionalised version of Mr Southgate, it is clearly a well-studied offering. Sturzaker has tremendous chemistry with the rest of the ensemble cast, in much the same way as Southgate himself was celebrated for having chemistry with his assembled players.
All the fan favourites are here – from the marvelously laconic Harry Kane (Oscar Gough) to the quietly impassioned national hero Marcus Rashford (Jayden Hanley), each player feels lovingly drawn and very, very human. Ashley Byam’s Raheem Sterling delivers blistering emotional heart as he is seen confronting racism both on and off the pitch, and Jack Maddison as Jordan Pickford adds much needed comic relief especially in respect of those penalty sequences which are performed so artistically. A personal highlight for me is Samantha Womack in role as the team’s sports psychologist Pippa Grange. She is poised, sharp as a tack and deeply caring – she offers a very welcome counterpoint to the occasionally toxic masculinity that inevitably surrounds a male football team. Graham uses this character as a means of opening up conversations about mental health and wellbeing which feel timely and relevant.
The movement direction by Ellen Kane, Hannes Langolf and Thomas Herron elevates key sporting moments into emotionally charged choreography with excellent use of slow motion and collective breathing serving to emphasise the tension in the stadium. There is something beautifully balletic about these scenes alongside the visceral and raw emotion. The soundscape by Dan Balfour, Tom Gibbons and Max Perryment mixes stadium anthems like Vindaloo and Three Lions with atmospheric incidentals helping to shift the piece across the mood board of emotions. Rupert Goold’s direction is pacy and Es Devlin’s set is simple but highly effective, especially when paired with some very brilliant video scenery from Ash J Woodward.
We visit many themes along the way – from explorations around racism in sport to identity and national pride – and there are some quite magnificent satirical interludes featuring caricatures of former Prime Ministers Teresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. These vignettes offer light relief but also social commentary which anchor the piece in its historical context.
In the end, Dear England is no mere football play – in fact, in the spirit of full disclosure, I should probably admit that I’m really not a fan of the beautiful game. In fact, I’ve never watched a whole match. But I do love theatre. And this is a piece that offers a meditation on loss, hope, empathy and the joy of belonging to something bigger than self. The football is a vehicle for exploring some much bigger questions about national identity and self-belief. This is a highly accessible, technically brilliant theatrical tour de force which will please football fans, football-phobes and theatre lovers alike.
Dear England is in Nottingham for one week only, until Saturday 27th September. Limited tickets remain here: Dear England, Theatre Royal, Nottingham
*If you’d like to meet the playwright James Graham, he is appearing in conversation before the show in the Dress Circle Bar at 6pm on Thursday 28th. Book here: In Conversation with James Graham | Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall Nottingham
**Tours of the stage/backstage areas are available as part of the 160th Birthday celebrations of The Theatre Royal here: 160 Years of the Theatre Royal, Theatre Royal, Nottingham
