Dear England (National Theatre) London Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (40)
See it if Superb, one of James Graham's best IMO.
Don't see it if Even if you don't follow football this is a great show.
See it if Great writing, flows very nicely and very enjoyable.
Don't see it if You don't like fictionalised versions of recent history.
See it if You're a football fan, in any capacity - I'm a casual fan yet followed along easily and absolutely loved the show. Very heartwarming!
Don't see it if You aren't the least bit interested in football - the story is still warm but you'll feel like you're missing something.
See it if you like dramas that resonant. If you follow football, mannerisms and events are extra entertainments. Joseph Fiennes’s acting is amazing.
Don't see it if you don’t like football. Majority of audiences are football fans. It feels like a football stadium! They even call interval ‘half time’…
See it if You like James Graham and his topical work, football, or stories about teamwork, personal development, and adversity.
Don't see it if The idea of a show about football is very unappealing to you. Read more
See it if you want to see an intelligently written and hard hitting play about the England team and Gareth Southgate. Both funny and thoughtful.
Don't see it if a 3 hour play about football sounds like a hard sell, but there’s so much more to it than that.
See it if you enjoy recent history brought to life on stage, especially if you're a football fan
Don't see it if you'd rather not be reminded of the incompetent recent Tory Prime Ministers, who are weirdly shoehorned in for no reason
See it if you want to experience an enjoyable and well-staged show about the inspirational coach of a soccer team, reminiscent of "Ted Lasso".
Don't see it if you don't like sports stories. You don't have to love soccer to enjoy the play, but if you have no interest in sports, this isn't for you.
Critic Reviews (10)
“This is a thrilling piece of work, popular and political as Graham always intends his plays to be, and – appropriately – a consummate team effort.”
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“ ‘Dear England’ is a big-hearted, technically dazzling celebration of football first and a critique of it second. If it was the other way around I wonder if it might feel a little more like a play for the ages. Graham’s best work is so improbably brilliant it carries the audacious rush of putting ten past the other team’s keeper.”
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“As endearing as it is, the production, directed by Rupert Goold, takes time to really lift off the ground, focusing on story rather than drama in the first half – and it does seem like a game of two halves.”
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"State-of-the-nation playwright James Graham brilliantly captures the blokey awkwardness within our wider national story."
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“He shoots; he scores. James Graham’s fast-moving portrait of Gareth Southgate’s reign as the England football manager is a joyous example of populist theatre. There’s anguish, joy and a surprisingly generous helping of humour.”
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“The world is indeed a mysterious thing, as this quasi-shamanistic Southgate seems somehow to intuit...The play's extraordinary achievement is to suggest that this impossibly tall order may in fact lie within reach.”
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“It’s our national story told with heart, humour and headers, and a beautiful celebration of an unlikely hero. Fiennes is definitely man of the match, but this is a joyful, and victorious, team effort.”
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"A beautiful production about the beautiful game. It felt great to see a story as positive as this coming home to a London stage – I wouldn’t be surprised if this continues James Graham’s track record and gets a West End transfer itself in the not-too-distant future. If it does, it really would be very well deserved."
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