Dear England (West End) London Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (22)
See it if EVEN if you know nothing about football. They tell you all you need to know!
Don't see it if you only like short plays
See it if You love football. Even more so if you love James Graham - he strikes again with a genius telling of something that shouldn’t interest me.
Don't see it if You don’t like interesting staging and clever storytelling.
See it if You like football
Don't see it if you don't have an interest in the sport
See it if you like English football. Even if you are not so theatre person, an entertaining night out guaranteed. It’s also good for theatre lovers.
Don't see it if Being in the theatre for 3hours can be difficult for some. Read more
See it if you're in for a well-made, captivating & entertaining play about England's current national soccer team, a metaphor for the country itself.
Don't see it if even if you don't like sports or soccer you will find a lot to like here, though at nearly 3 hours the show is in need of some hard editing
See it if Excellent story on how the English needs to learn to get in touch with their emotions, esp. the rage after losses. Joseph's fine performance
Don't see it if Male macho-ness meets therapy speak (vulnerability, fear, coping mechanisms), less about actual sports. Read more
See it if You like football, feel good stories, biographies and Gareth Southgate / Joseph Fiennes.
Don't see it if You don’t like football. This is one for the football fans, even though there’s more to it in the story.
See it if Even if you know and care nothing about football. The brilliant staging and compelling characters keep you fully engaged.
Don't see it if You want mindless escapism.
Critic Reviews (9)
"Rupert Goold, never one to leave his showmanship in the locker room, has rarely married storytelling with spectacle with more of a flourish. Between him and Graham and an ensemble so good it would be invidious to pick out individuals (sorry, lads) they ensure that a huge cast of characters are delineated with wit and clarity."
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“While the acting and direction are as good as it gets, it really is the writing that puts Dear England at the top of the league...The way this play manages to connect with its audience, finding its way into their very soul, is something few shows manage to achieve successfully. “
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“When the curtain falls it’s a case of ‘they think it’s all over’ but of course this time, it’s not. Outside a West End theatre, Southgate remains in the job and shows no signs of going anytime soon. So, although Graham doesn’t have a true ending to this story, Dear England stands proud as a joyful portrayal of the game, and a heartfelt celebration of teamwork.”
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“Against a fracturing sense of national identity, ‘’Dear England’ makes manifest the everyday glue that binds us...God knows what the tourists will make of it. No matter. This is a rare and special thing – a play that dares to let us feel not so bad about being us.”
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“James Graham’s multi-faceted play ‘Dear England,’ in Rupert Goold’s tremendous production, has the sweep and crowd-pleasing energy of a musical; it’s both populist and deeply thoughtful, and told with such warmth and wit that football fanatics and sceptics alike will probably be willing to die for Southgate and his team by the end.”
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“This is still a terrific evening of navel-gazing that the nation has to keep doing, in search of an answer to what it means in these post-Brexit days to be not just an England footballer, but English.”
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“James Graham’s superb play ‘Dear England’ is a love letter not only to the sport, but to the power it has to affect change across a nation and within individuals. An extraordinarily inspiring and enlightening production, it explores human possibility and positive transformation through football, demonstrating how beautiful relationships can be generated when care is taken.”
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“It is Rupert Goold’s direction that maintains the play’s momentum. There is never a dull moment here as we move through scenes with the finely tuned detail of a football player dribbling across the pitch, darting this way and that but always with one goal in mind...This performance is truly universal and speaks to something greater than the sum of its parts.”
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