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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Entertainment
Nick Curtis

Gareth Southgate's kind revolution has a bittersweet ending in Dear England at the National

Tane Siah (Bukayo Saka) and Gwilym Lee (Gareth Southgate) in Dear England (2025) at the National Theatre - (Marc Brenner)

A return fixture proves James Graham’s end-to-end, heart-in-mouth football drama a winner. An exploration of England manager Gareth Southgate’s bid to forge the men’s team and its fans into something more cohesive and less tribal, it was a popular and critical hit when it first appeared at the National in 2023. But it didn’t have an ending.

Now it has a bittersweet one, courtesy of the Euro 2024 defeat and Southgate’s departure. It’s been recast, with Gwilym Lee a seamless replacement for Joseph Fiennes as the dogged, diffident Southgate, Liz White as his psychologist sidekick Pippa Grange, and some substitutions among the players.

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