Dear England

by James Graham

It's time to change the game.

The country that gave the world football has since delivered a painful pattern of loss. Why can't England's men win at their own game?

The team has the worst track record for penalties in the world and manager Gareth Southgate knows he needs to open his mind and face up to the years of hurt to take team and country back to the promised land.

James Graham's 'rousing new play' (Tatler) offers a fast-moving portrayal of Gareth Southgate's reign as England football manager that presents a gripping examination of both nation and game. Uplifting, funny and more entertaining than a World Cup final.

This edition was published to coincide with the West End transfer of Dear England in October 2023, following its world premiere at the National Theatre in June 2023.

Genres: Plays

112 pages, Paperback

Published December 5, 2023

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 2 out of 5]

GARETH: Ok. We draw plans and it's on to the Euros. 'Act Two'.

STEVE: ... What normally happens in Act Two? Does it get better or worse?

PIPPA: I guess we'll find out....

p. 63


That little bit of meta-theatrics is about the only bit I found remotely amusing, or even interesting in this turgid slog comprised of equal parts rah-rah sports scenes, metaphoric nods to English politics and Brexit; and heaping globs of psycho-babble.

I've read about a half dozen of Graham's plays and - sadly - this is the only one I REALLY did not like. I almost skipped it, but the rave reviews convinced me that even though I had zero interest in English football (what we Americans call soccer), the dramaturgy 'worked' brilliantly anyway. Perhaps in production, but it makes for very dull dull dull reading. You have a LOT to answer for Mickey Jo Theatre (see below).

PS. Atrocious copyediting: are for our, there for their, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYLGy...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkDiU...
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/202...
https://www.timeout.com/london/theatr...

[Lex Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who truly does not care about football, I love plays about football

This script is juggling a LOT! 3 Major tournaments (World Cup, Euros, World Cup again), a full team of recognisable players, 6 years of modern british politics from Brexit to Covid to Black Lives Matter and beyond, as well as the story of Gareth Southgate himself. On the page, it flys by. We bounce from moment to moment and sail through montages. I imagine on the stage it soars aided by set, visuals and performances. On the page, it reads like a proof of concept. But its a great concept and one that made me eager to see this on stage when it returns next month.

Its very interesting reading a story that happened so recently, I vividly remember all these things happening. I actually watched the final match of this play (one of two matches I have actually chosen to watch) But I knew nothing about this side of it, about Gareth Southgate’s ethos and it really is massivel endearing. Its a hopeful story not just about sport but about the state of the nation. I know James Graham has rewritten the ending based on the Euros 24 (the other match I chose to watch) and I am very keen to see how that effects the message of this play.

[Jakub Dovcik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pippa: Look, what we're talking about is trust. And if it feels conditional, on how you well you earn it, or how well you perform. That's not proper trust, if you're worried that, by just being yourself, the person will abandon you. Like a teammate, or the fans or -
Marcus Rashford: Or your dad.

Didn’t catch the play at the National Theatre, so read the play. As someone who doesn’t know much about football and thus is relatively unburdened by Southgate’s actual approach to strategy and tactics on the pitch, I absolutely loved the story and the point it is trying to make.

Loved the part about penalties, the intersections with the Theresa May-era politics and how it tries to ask what modern masculinity could be.

Well worth reading/seeing for anyone thinking about what makes teams truly great.

[Amy Benson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sadly, it met my expectations. I'd expected it to be cringe, and it was.
More than that, there's something off about one of the central ideas of putting storytelling before the story itself, which crosses over from therapy into PR bullshit.

Judging by the reviews, it seems to work better on stage, with all the visual references and emotions running high, but on paper I could count the lines I actually believed on the fingers of one hand.

[Darya · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Graham possesses this great ability to turn any plot into a captivating story and hold one's attention and interest in a topic one has no prior knowledge or interest whatsoever. The play is not even about football after all (in which it echoes Ted Lasso that I absolutely adore). Smart, emotional, funny, and overall a very human story.

[sam honour · Rating 3 out of 5]

This covers Gareth Southgate’s takeover of the men’s England football team, and whilst this is a brilliant play which is well written as James Graham plays always are, I couldn’t help but feel the story is a bit premature. This story is still ongoing and so it doesn’t feel like a nice closured ending because the ending is yet to happen. I’d have almost rather they’d kept it in development for longer until Gareth’s ultimate end of contract with the team or hopefully a win and ended on either of those milestones. But overall I enjoyed reading it and it was fast paced and had some nice messages and bits of writing which I enjoyed.

[Bobby Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this play a lot more than I expected to, not being a football (soccer to us Yanks) fan. But there was quite a bit of drama built into the real life story, waiting to see if Gareth's new touchy-feely coaching approach would meet with success.

[Pip Wip · Rating 3 out of 5]

A feelgood play and a good read. Kind of felt like the lovechild of hallmark movies and Ted Lasso. But I also had the suspicion it wanted to give more of an insight to football in the Drive to Survive/Tour de France Unchained kind of way.

[mckenna bieger · Rating 3 out of 5]

trippy to read a play where bukayo saka is a character. my two main interests (football and plays) combined! i think i’d need to see this on stage to fully enjoy it - the script just doesn’t translate for a solo read.

[Duncan Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

decent play about Southgate and the England team. James Graham can certainly write a good gag, and tells a complicated story skilfully but I suspect it will make more dramatic sense when I see it Iive next week...

[Steve Mayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading it was necessary to comprehend this quite good play, since I am not an English football fan.

[Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Love reading about sports-but-not-really and thought this was a really clever way to explore this change in England's football program, but something about reading real people as characters was throwing me off.