Review: Dear England at the Lowry is a witty masterclass in the good, bad, and the ugly of English football
I distinctly remember where I was when England lost to Italy in the final of the 2021 Euros, breaking hearts across the country.
Covering the game for the Manchester Evening News from the big screen in Crown Square, I watched as the anticipation turned to jubilation, then turned bitter. Within minutes, the 11 men on the pitch had gone from national heroes to masters of misery, and the nastiest side of football was laid bare.
Because let's face it, sometimes the beautiful game isn't so beautiful. It's something Dear England confronts audiences with right from the start, when you are forced to relive Gareth Southgate's agonising 1996 penalty miss as Southgate, played by Gwilym Lee, watches on. The pain is palpable.
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The Olivier Award-winning play by James Graham is beginning a four-week long stint at The Lowry in Salford, bringing the England camp outside of London for the first time. Set over Gareth Southgate's managerial stint of the Three Lions, the play addresses so much more than football, telling the story of an occasionally united, often divided England that feels entitled to glory and stuck on the questions - what does it mean to play for England? And what is it to be English?
These are questions with no right answer, but it's a conversation Dear England is willing to have. The play is in many ways the behind the scenes story of how Southgate, with the help of psychologist Dr Pippa Grange (played by Liz White), managed to take a group of unruly, directionless, scared players and help them become one of the most successful England teams of all time. But that story is only partly one of football. It is one of identity, fear, and belonging.
The cast play a collection of familiar faces - Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Harry Maguire, Jordan Pickford - all represented through genuinely funny (and largely very accurate) caricatures of themselves. Harry Kane is kind but monotonous, Bukayo Saka has his familiar boyish charm, Raheem Sterling his swaggering confidence, and Josh Barrow masters Jordan Pickford's 'absolute insanity', as my partner put it.
Graham isn't afraid to poke fun at senior FA figures such as Greg Dyke and Greg Clarke as archaic, results-driven dinosaurs; "You don't have to be called Greg to work at the FA, but it does help," one chortles to the other as they hand over the top job. Similarly Theresa May and Boris Johnson make short and exaggerated appearances as hilariously recognisable caricatures. This is a production that plays on the humour of real people, and my god does it work.
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It's a simply but stunningly staged show, making use of a simple black backdrop, stadium-style lighting, and atmospheric football soundbites to brilliant effect.
Unbelievable effort has been put in to mastering each person's likeness - even their celebration poses are instantly recognisable from newspaper front pages. And while much of the humour of the play does come from these exaggerated versions of real and recognisable people, I don't think you need to be a football expert to find Dear England a brilliant watch. You just need to be interested in the big question - what does it mean to be English?
As the team navigate the highs and lows of international tournaments, they are guided by their backroom staff, who represent both the good and bad of the old-school football Southgate is trying to leave behind. In one amusing, but equally poignant moment, the team embrace Southgate in a group hug as the backroom staff watch on, eventually accepting to each other's hands. It starkly lays out much of the outdated, toxic masculinity that is pervasive in football, gently poking fun while addressing a culture that has put so many off a game that should be for everyone.
Because it is this toxicity that, as a country, we can't seem to separate from the game we all love. It's the sad reality pointed out in the letter Southgate penned to England fans before those painful 2021 Euros, which is the namesake of the play. Dear England, he wrote. Of course, my players and I will be judged on winning matches. Only one team can win the Euros. We have never done it before and we are desperate to do it for the first time.
But, the reality is that the result is just a small part of it. When England play, there's much more at stake than that.
It's about how we conduct ourselves on and off the pitch, how we bring people together, how we inspire and unite, how we create memories that last beyond the 90 minutes. That last beyond the summer. That last forever.
In that letter, Gareth Southgate asked England fans what was at stake for them when England play. Dear England is a compelling imagination of what that same journey looks like for the players who bear the burden - and enjoy the honour - of a nation's hopes on their shoulders.
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