Dear England by James Graham at the National Theatre – review round-up

Dear England – exuberant and exciting

Sarah Crompton (WhatsOnStage, ★★★★★) certainly thinks so. For her, the play is “an absolute blast, a riot of exuberant theatre that is as exciting as Marcus Rashford scoring a hat-trick”. Going on to describe it as “utterly absorbing, full of twists and turns, vivid characters, proper conflicts and great lines”, Crompton seems especially moved by the play’s foregrounding of “exactly the same qualities that created Southgate’s ethos – of compassion, of inclusion, of a willingness to recognise that winning isn’t everything, that respect and love for one’s teammates are also qualities worth striving for”.

Dominic Cavendish (the Telegraph, ★★★★★) praises Graham’s insightful analysis of the context in which Southgate’s transformative tenure as manager has taken place. “He sees the apparent recent renaissance of the beautiful game as a foundational opportunity, contrasting it explicitly with the division, rancour and chaos of our political life since 2016.” As the play goes on, Cavendish attests, it “builds not only into a gripping drama, but one that valuably glances at the confusions of our wider national story”, and notes that despite the political urgency of Graham’s message, “it’s all done with tremendous lightness of touch”.

Other critics, though, found this density of themes left the play feeling overstuffed. Jessie Thomspon (the Independent, ★★★) acknowledges the “ambitious” scope of the play, but finds it “often overloaded by the sheer number of events” that Graham packs in. “It covers three tournaments, but also three prime ministers and the pandemic”. Often, she tells us, “it feels like a cut-and-paste job, a highlights package of the past few years, without the helter-skelter emotion of the beautiful game itself”. Arifa Akbar (the Guardian, ★★★) agrees, finding Graham’s “interrogation of Englishness and the flag a little too brief”, while the pertinent issue of “racism – within the footballing community or between team members – is touched upon rather than explored”.

Nick Curtis (Evening Standard, ★★★★) likewise accepts that “there’s a lot of sporting history, a lot of biography and a lot of hurt packed into the three-hour running time”, but concludes that the play is “witty, clever and at times heart-in-mouth exciting enough to win over even those who don’t care about football”. It is a “brilliant fusion of sport and art, exploring our nation’s character through our national game”.

Dear England – breathless pacing

If there’s a danger that the play becomes bogged down in all this detail, reviewers agree that Goold’s exuberant staging keeps the audience engaged with visual spectacle and a multiplicity of unexpected perspectives.

Clive Davis (the Times, ★★★★) says, “Goold’s production zips along with all the brash energy of a graphic novel”, bringing in public figures, politicians and citizens to comment on the action. “It sometimes feels as though the entire English nation has its vox-pop moment,” Davis says. “Morris dancers, a nurse, a builder and a priest are just some of the figures who weigh in on the health of the country’s secular religion.”

Crompton, meanwhile, describes the play’s “frenetic, cartoon-like pace, beautifully choreographed by Ellen Kane and Hannes Langolf. The players rush around the stage in bright sportswear, moving swiftly through scenes of stylised action.”

Dear England – impeccable impersonation

Providing a point of focused calm among all this activity, Fiennes’ comes in for high praise, with Alistair Smith (The Stage, ★★★★) calling his performance “a bona fide star turn” in which he “perfects the England manager’s diffidence, his voice, his forced smile, his furrowed brow, his pursed lips, his measured hand gestures. It is uncanny – at times, you forget it’s Fiennes standing on stage.” Curtis echoes the sentiment: “Fiennes uncannily captures Southgate’s distinctive diction and his careful blend of confidence and diffidence,” while for Akbar, Fiennes’ take on Southgate is “slightly geeky, full of earnestness and quiet integrity”, a deep performance that is “more than just an impersonation”.

Maryam Philpott (the Reviews Hub, ★★★★1/2) likewise praises Fiennes: “Given a rare soliloquy on the Olivier stage extracted from the Dear England letter, Fiennes seizes the moment to set out Southgate’s ethos in a quietly powerful performance that underpins the show.” But she also offers praise for the rest of the cast, too, “especially Will Close as Harry Kane, who develops from an early figure of fun into the emotional heart of the play, while Gina McKee is excellent as sports psychologist Pippa Grange, overcoming embedded sexism and a lack of faith in her methods to coax the team into being”.

Dear England – the verdict

James Graham is unquestionably one of our most significant state-of-the-nation playwrights, with an eclectic and electrifying body of work to his name. And according to the critics, this newest play is no exception – a excitingly told biography that uses its admirable subject’s life as a lens through which to examine the fraying social fabric of contemporary Britain. Goold’s staging is breathless and exhilarating, while Joseph Fiennes gives a brilliantly detailed performance as Southgate, capturing his mannerisms impeccably.

Three-star reviews in the Guardian and Independent suggest the production may be trying to tackle too many themes, but the production nets a solid haul of four- and five-star reviews from everyone else. Graham has clearly penned another powerful and intriguing play – as Sarah Crompton puts it: “He shoots, he scores! Again."