The dramatic potential of sport is enormous and the beautiful game in particular provides drama, comedy and even tragedy in spades.
Riffing around the selection of Gareth Southgate (Joseph Fiennes) as manager of the dispirited England team as they head towards the World Cup in 2018, Graham extracts the best elements of Southgate’s unconventional approach.
Defiantly non-macho, (“A soft lad in a hard world”) he brought a new philosophy to the players that acted as a prism for the changes in society overtaking gnarlier attitudes.
Rupert Goold directs the squad with clarity and invention on Es Devlin’s simple circular set that looks like a giant halo sandwich with a set of upright boxes that double as doorways and lockers.
The rest is down to the actors playing Marcus Rashford (Darragh Hand), Harry Kane (Will Close) and Gary LIneker (Gunnar Cauthery), among others.
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As the therapist brought in to enable Southgate’s mission, Gina McKee is superbly stoical.
Sound effects and lighting deliver the illusion of goals scored and penalties missed, of the national euphoria and disappointment of a game that can bring grown men to their knees and children to their feet.
With his El Greco face and softly, softly approach, Fiennes brings a quiet credibility to Southgate as a man with a social conscience and elevated purpose – “We are all storytellers now.” Good game.
Dear England, National Theatre until August 11, Tickets: 020 7452 3961
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