Leeds Grand Theatre – until Saturday 8th November 2025
Reviewed by Adam Craddock
5*****
Tonight I had the pleasure of being invited along to Leeds Grand Theatre to review The National Theatre’s tour of Dear England. I knew this was going to be a fun one for me to review, I’m a massive football fan in my mid to late twenties so the subject material and setting in time were very personal to me. The Southgate years of England were me in my “lads lads lads, let’s get a beer” prime and each of the games in the tournaments he managed I remember exactly where I watched it and how I felt. This came to hit me later in the show as the emotion of the ultimate disappointment was played out on stage and I remember being at my friends wedding standing in the rain with tears running from my eyes… as I said, this is personal to me!
The production starred David Sturzaker as Gareth Southgate, the comparatively muted and thoughtful England manager as he looked to rescue us from our worst run of tournament results in recent memory. Sturzaker was sublime as Southgate, with some very thoughtfully done pieces taken from Southgate’s mannerisms and speech patterns, whilst very much being himself and not just being an impressionist. The heart and feeling he brought to the role was brilliant and for me, he nailed it. Bravo! Samantha Womack co starred as Pippa Grange, the psychologist brought in to help the England camp turn around the toxic mindset that had infected it. Womack was brilliant, perfectly showing the challenges of a woman entering the macho world of professional sport and managing to get through to the players. She had a brilliant tenderness that really made you understand why the players would listen to her. I don’t have space in my review to list them all off but the gents that played the England team were all fabulous, in particular however Oscar Gough that played Harry Kane. Similar to the Southgate performance, Gough took several aspects from the real life Kane and moulded them into his own performance, never feeling like a pastiche but more a tribute to the England legend. His monologue about how the world views him because of his speech was touching and I have to say… Gough has some seriously awful dad dancing skills in the best possible way.
I adored the set of this show. The circular raised stage and ring light above provided a real feel of being sat within the stadium. The use of video behind to show the twin towers of old Wembley or video footage of past heartbreaks was outstanding and this really made the show for me in a visual manner. The lighting was perfect and the sounds almost was as well, minus a couple of mics not being turned on at the right time and a slightly annoying white noise coming from the speaker near my seat.
All in all, I would highly recommend Dear England to any theatre goer, old or young. I commented to my partner that there were several groups of young men in the audience that I doubt you would normally see coming to Les Miserables or The Nutcracker, but plays such as Dear England are exactly what we need to get more young men into the wonderful world of theatre.