Joseph Fiennes stars in West End transfer of National Theatre hit Dear England – review
We went to check out Dear England when it premiered earlier this year at the National Theatre, and we enjoyed it so much we thought we’d pay a return visit now it’s transferred to the West End – it’s currently playing at the Prince Edward Theatre in Soho.
As we noted at the time, a play about the English football team may not be the sort of show we’d normally feature – for a whole variety of reasons, queer people may have a difficult relationship with football and the culture that surrounds it – but this is so much more than simply a show about the sport.
In fact, we believe that this play has the potential to be a force for good – the focus is on the team during Gareth Southgate’s (Joseph Fiennes) tenure as manager, as he creates the most progressive and socially-aware England team we’ve seen.
Being a James Graham play (Best of Enemies, Labour of Love) there’s a political undertone throughout, and over the course of a couple of hours we see an intelligent and thought-provoking social commentary that is considered through the lens of a series of major tournaments.
