Red Bus Londinium Life

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The role of sport in the national psyche is a curious and culturally unique one. New Zealand has its love of All Blacks, America has the Super Bowl and England has football. Won once, in 1966, but with a constant expectation that it should be “coming home” ever since: amazement and fury when it does not.

Dear England, at the National Theatre, skilfully examines both sides of the national passion for the beautiful game – the uplifting positivity and excitement, but also the crushing burdens of expectations and racism. It is excitingly staged and the direction (Rupert Goold) and movement (Ellen Kane, Hannes Langolf) accurately, and at times amusingly, uses the strong ensemble cast to capture the feverishness of crowds and sport.

It also gives us a deep insight into the importance of what goes on in the locker room in terms of mental preparation. As a parable for the difficulties of cultural change, it could be required viewing for a manager needing to make change in any field.

Gwilym Lee perfectly captures Southgate as a thoughtful and forward-looking leader who recognises he needs to build his team from within before they can even look to the outside. He understands the fear of failure due to his own public penalty-taking humiliation. Drafting in psychologist Pippa Grange (Liz White) takes him down a path that his colleagues initially find challenging, but which ultimately takes the team to more finals and semi-finals than ever before.

That this can be interesting to a non-football fan is testimony to the script by James Graham and, after all, whether we are football-watching fans or not, the national furore during tournaments is hard for anyone to ignore.

The play’s title: Dear England takes us to the communication role Southgate took with the team’s wider fans, drafting a series of letters to communicate with the country. In his own words, he “never believed that we should just stick to football.” 

Here, the play lays out Southgate’s vision of what it means to represent England, matching the themes in one of his letters: It’s their duty to continue to interact with the public on matters such as equality, inclusivity and racial injustice, while using the power of their voices to help put debates on the table, raise awareness and educate.

It’s powerful and empowering which makes the ultimate loss we all know is coming all the more painful. The moment of nineteen-year-old Saka (Tane Siah)‘s missing penalty punched the country in the gut when it happened (knowing the ugliness that would be unleashed) and in this play it punches afresh.

An accomplished and important play for anyone who wants to understand life in England today.