Dear England
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By Dan Slevin
When I saw the flyer for the current run of National Theatre Live presentations and saw that there was a play about Gareth Southgate, my first response was that they really will make theatre about anything these days. But on reflection, I realised that an institution like the NT has an obligation to reflect all of the society in which it exists, not just Shakespeare luvvies (although there’s a fair amount of that still to come).
But the story of Southgate’s leadership of the England football team, from yet another lowest ebb to the brink of immortality, really does transcend sport.
Southgate revolutionised elite level sport in the UK by bringing in psychologists and counsellors to support young millionaires who were struggling to see themselves as a team, and then by encouraging them to see each other as whole people who could contribute their voices to a society that was fracturing in front of their eyes.
And to recognise that despite all their power off the pitch, what was defining their performances on it was fear – that most pernicious of emotions – a fear that Southgate himself had unwittingly contributed to when he famously missed that penalty against Germany in the 96 Euros.
That penalty haunts him as well as the contemporary players. The play opens with the current Southgate (uncanny Joseph Fiennes) watching the younger one fail and team psychologist Pippa Grange (Gina McKee) can see how hard Southgate tries to assure everyone how he has put it behind him until a devastating speech near the end of the first act.
The play is also about England – Dear England was how Southgate addressed his occasional open letters to the fans – and how a country struggling to handle both Brexit and Covid needed something to rally behind but how that rallying ended up just increasing the pressure Southgate was trying to avoid. England, it could be saying, you’re your own worst enemy.
It’s episodic theatre, needing to hit all the story beats so that well-known moments of triumph and defeat are all there, and for all the talk of seeing the players as complete people it does often reduce them to the single thing we all know about them – Maguire’s head, Rashford’s grandma, Dele Alli’s mental health. Will Close’s perfect imitation of Harry Kane’s inarticulate sincerity never fails to raise a laugh, until he, too, finds heartbreak in a penalty kick.
But often, James Graham’s play hits a perfect note. In the scene where Eric Dier (Ryan Whittle) is dropped from the squad for Euro 2020, he says, “If it’s the best thing for the team that I’m not in it, then it’s my duty isn’t it?” And then trudges off through the audience like Captain Oates going out for some time in Antarctica.
Dan Slevin is a film and television reviewer for RNZ National and the RNZ website. This review first appeared in his daily newsletter Funerals & Snakes.
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Link to the trailer:
All images are courtesy of National Theatre.
