Latest news with #DearEngland
The Guardian
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Much Ado About Nothing review – RSC boots the action to elite Italian football in a play of two halves
Suggesting that spectacular visual metaphor is the Royal Shakespeare Company's new house style, a Hamlet set on a cruise liner is followed by a Much Ado About Nothing based in elite Italian football. After the National Theatre's Gareth Southgate bio-drama Dear England, this must be the first season that both big subsidised companies have filled stages with young men in replica club shirts and jockstraps. Before this Much of the Day starts, a TV sports feed tells us that FC Messina have beaten Madrid FC 3-2 in a European final, with a hat-trick from young winger Claudio. But cocky journeyman midfielder Benedick – jibed as 'Signor Own-Goal', replacing Shakespeare's sexualised insult 'Mountanto' – refuses to be interviewed by TV sportscaster Beatrice, due to some past bad match. While Hamlet takes place surrounded by sea, this re-sported Messina is more of a stretch, requiring 'war' to become 'game', Leonato 'owner' rather than 'governor' and nobleman Don Pedro a 'manager', although football's nickname culture permits him to be addressed as 'Sweet Prince', which is relatively modest in comparison with José Mourinho's 'Special One'. And for football aficionados, it is shaming how well the game fits the plot of the brutal misogynistic slandering of a young woman, Hero. Indeed, a play revolving around falsehoods and pranking gains new power when everyone has a mobile phone. And masked balls (on which many misunderstandings depend) also feel plausible partying for Champions League millionaires. Less happily, the footballing cliche about a game of two halves also applies to the production. After halftime, as football kit gives way to wedding gear, the metaphor visually vanishes. Also, a common football-managerial complaint about the pace of play – moving the ball faster here, tactically slowing things down there – is something director Michael Longhurst might look at before a second elsewhere. One of the most remarkable lines in Shakespeare, Beatrice's demand that Benedick 'Kill Claudio', is gabbled without a preceding pause, while other scenes need much quicker passing, especially as the comic coppers (cut completely from Jamie Lloyd's recent London Much Ado) get a full game. Dogberry and the other members of his watch as hi-vis private security is a good sight gag but their lines frequently die. Freema Agyeman's winning Beatrice looks – although the conceit can't encompass women's football – as if she might be a better player than Nick Blood's Benedick, who has the poignancy of a late-career athlete, while Peter Forbes' sleazy Leonato would easily fail the Premier League's 'fit and proper owners' test. Eleanor Worthington-Cox's hopeful Hero could have walked on from Amazon Prime's Married to the Game. Jon Bausor's set makes amusing use of a folding massage table, and the clothes, from tracksuits to designer suits and frocks, should win him a costume trophy. The overall show, though, is a little bit, as they spell it in football, Messi. At the Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, until 24 May
The Guardian
19-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Dear England review – footballing reboot adds extra time for Gareth Southgate's exit
It's unusual for an award-winning, commercially successful play to be revived with a substantially rewritten second half and multiple new characters. James Graham's reason for dismantling a hit is that his story of Gareth Southgate's renewal of the England men's football team was, in effect, written at half-time. The 2023 premiere had an implied triumphant coda in which the manager's methods of psychology and motivation won the 2024 Euros. A 2-1 defeat to Spain in the final last July has made this version of the play more reflective than celebratory, although the fact that the Spanish winner was scored by a substitute after an agonising offside review confirms a strong theme: football as a metaphor for life's tiny margins between good and bad outcomes. So in the new version, the protagonist becomes Sir Gareth Southgate and additional cameos include his successor, Thomas Tuchel. Original squad members such as Gunnar Cauthery's crisp Gary Lineker now have new teammates. As Southgate, Gwilym Lee matches the role's originator, Joseph Fiennes, in uncannily capturing the corkscrew frown and jumping eyebrows. As the Yorkshire-born, Australia-trained team psychologist Pippa Grange, Gina McKee in 2023 foregrounded the northern English while Liz White now emphasises the Antipodean. Valuable new players include Gamba Cole's Raheem Sterling, Tristan Waterson's Dele Alli and Jude Carmichael's Marcus Rashford – although the rewrite might have dealt more with the fact that so many of the players Graham focused on only two years ago have since lost form. A weakness remains the simplicity of some minor characters. Graham Taylor and Greg Dyke, respectively a manager and football executive of intelligence and charm, are portrayed as unrecognisable vulgarians. Oddly, Dear England chooses not to dramatise one England manager (Roy Hodgson) and a prime minister of the period (Rishi Sunak). Due to Spain's superiority last summer, there is an even greater tension between the play's willed desire to end in triumph and the reality of England's tournament performances, although Rupert Goold's staging (with Elin Schofield credited as revival director) is slicker and swifter than ever and movement directors Ellen Kane and Hannes Langolf – in sequences re-creating matches, penalty shootouts and changing room dance-offs – extraordinarily put the ball into ballet. Dear England increasingly strikes me as a theatrical sibling of The West Wing. Where Aaron Sorkin's TV drama consoled liberals during the George W Bush years with the fantasy of a Democrat intellectual giant in the White House, Graham offers Southgate as a progressive, gentle, healing alternative national leader, for the period from 2016 to 2024, while the Tories were in fact in charge. That this corrective resonance may survive into a Labour administration is revealing of the state we're in. The tour to football capitals including Newcastle, Liverpool and Leeds will provide another fascinating context. At the Olivier theatre, National Theatre, London, until 24 May and at the Lowry, Salford, 29 May-29 June. Then touring.
The Independent
16-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Playwright James Graham cannot watch full exchange of Trump, Vance and Zelensky
Playwright James Graham said he has not been able to watch the full clip of a heated exchange between US President Donald Trump, vice president JD Vance and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky as he finds it 'impossibly upsetting'. A blowout in the Oval Office at the end of February saw Mr Zelensky abruptly leave the White House, following an unprecedented series of exchanges. During the meeting Mr Trump accused Mr Zelensky of 'gambling with World War Three', while Mr Zelensky warned the US would 'feel it in the future' if it did not continue to support Ukraine. 'Don't tell us what we're going to feel. We're trying to solve a problem,' Mr Trump hit back. Mr Vance meanwhile accused the Ukrainian leader of being 'disrespectful', and both he and the US president claimed Mr Zelensky had not been thankful enough for US military aid. Appearing as a guest on BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Graham said: 'I think everyone sort of recognises and appreciates whatever else there's been, the moral clarity of the leadership at the moment, especially when that's been absent in certain other Western leaders' behavior. 'And it's obviously a tricky line to balance when you need partners across the world and trade agreements and things. But I think, I mean, I've never, personally been able to watch the entirety of that clip of Zelensky and Vance and Trump. 'I find it like impossibly upsetting, the bullying that went on there, and also the very, very chilling Orwellian rewriting of basic fundamentals – who started what when in dramatic terms, like confusing the good guys with the bad guys. 'It is a very worrying moment. I think people will always, therefore, be grateful for the reasserting of our traditional values when they come. And hopefully, as Steve (Rigby) says, it will work out for the people of Ukraine.' Graham, whose TV writing credits include Sherwood, Brexit: The Uncivil War and Channel 4's Brian And Maggie, appeared on the Sunday show alongside Good Morning Britain presenter Susanna Reid and businessman Steve Rigby. Graham's production Dear England, the award-winning play about Gareth Southgate's time as the England football manager, will embark on a nationwide tour across England later this year. Dear England had a sell-out run at the National Theatre before it transferred to the West End in 2023, securing best new play at the Olivier Awards last year. It will now take to the road for a 16-venue tour, kicking off in Plymouth on September 15, with stops in major cities including Newcastle, Liverpool and Birmingham, until the tour comes to a close on March 14 2026.
Yahoo
16-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Playwright James Graham cannot watch full exchange of Trump, Vance and Zelensky
Playwright James Graham said he has not been able to watch the full clip of a heated exchange between US President Donald Trump, vice president JD Vance and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky as he finds it 'impossibly upsetting'. A blowout in the Oval Office at the end of February saw Mr Zelensky abruptly leave the White House, following an unprecedented series of exchanges. During the meeting Mr Trump accused Mr Zelensky of 'gambling with World War Three', while Mr Zelensky warned the US would 'feel it in the future' if it did not continue to support Ukraine. 'Don't tell us what we're going to feel. We're trying to solve a problem,' Mr Trump hit back. Mr Vance meanwhile accused the Ukrainian leader of being 'disrespectful', and both he and the US president claimed Mr Zelensky had not been thankful enough for US military aid. Appearing as a guest on BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Graham said: 'I think everyone sort of recognises and appreciates whatever else there's been, the moral clarity of the leadership at the moment, especially when that's been absent in certain other Western leaders' behavior. 'And it's obviously a tricky line to balance when you need partners across the world and trade agreements and things. But I think, I mean, I've never, personally been able to watch the entirety of that clip of Zelensky and Vance and Trump. 'I find it like impossibly upsetting, the bullying that went on there, and also the very, very chilling Orwellian rewriting of basic fundamentals – who started what when in dramatic terms, like confusing the good guys with the bad guys. 'It is a very worrying moment. I think people will always, therefore, be grateful for the reasserting of our traditional values when they come. And hopefully, as Steve (Rigby) says, it will work out for the people of Ukraine.' Graham, whose TV writing credits include Sherwood, Brexit: The Uncivil War and Channel 4's Brian And Maggie, appeared on the Sunday show alongside Good Morning Britain presenter Susanna Reid and businessman Steve Rigby. Graham's production Dear England, the award-winning play about Gareth Southgate's time as the England football manager, will embark on a nationwide tour across England later this year. Dear England had a sell-out run at the National Theatre before it transferred to the West End in 2023, securing best new play at the Olivier Awards last year. It will now take to the road for a 16-venue tour, kicking off in Plymouth on September 15, with stops in major cities including Newcastle, Liverpool and Birmingham, until the tour comes to a close on March 14 2026.
The Independent
12-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Lisa Nandy urges next generation to ‘carry the torch' before VE Day anniversary
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has urged the next generation to 'carry the torch' of remembrance and strive for peace ahead of the 80th anniversary of VE Day. She announced the full programme of events to mark the anniversary at an event held at the National Theatre in central London on Wednesday. A service at Westminster Abbey, a military procession from Whitehall to Buckingham Palace and the release of a new National Theatre film are among the planned events. There will also be an immersive augmented reality experience, resources for every school in the country and a national call for the public to submit letters written during the Second World War. Ms Nandy told the PA news agency: 'You can never take peace for granted and it is incumbent in every generation to strive for peace anew. 'That's particularly relevant with the turmoil going on in today's world and we want to make sure that this generation is able to carry the torch forwards. 'The programme of events that we have put together with veterans and others will help not just to celebrate and honour the sacrifice and the legacy that generation gave us but also bring the past flickering back to life for this new generation. 'We will have a moment at the Cenotaph where we have veterans and cadets and the message is very clear that it's up to our generation to carry that torch forwards, to honour their legacy, not just be remembering the sacrifice but by striving to protect the peace for which they gave so much.' Playwright James Graham, known for Sherwood and Dear England, has written a film called The Next Morning for the National Theatre as part of commemorations, and spoke at the event. It will showcase stories of young people after the Second World War and will be released during the four days of events. In her speech at the event, Ms Nandy said: 'This is one of the last opportunities that we will have to hear first-hand from that remarkable generation. 'This VE Day they will hand the torch on so that we can carry their legacy forwards. 'They gave us 80 years of peace through that remarkable sacrifice. Whether we have 80 years more peace is up to us.' The event also saw speeches from actress Fay Ripley, who read a letter sent from a mother to her daughter during the Second World War, and 17-year-old Leo Oliver, who read his great-grandfather's wartime letter. Speaking afterwards, Graham said: 'Given the state of the world at the moment – whether it's Ukraine or anything else – I think it's really important that younger people have an education in what that generation did in terms of being brave and going out there and doing that, protecting our freedoms, and given the context of the modern-day freedoms, we increasingly just can't take that for granted.'
