The smash-hit production uses Southgate’s revolutionary approach to winning – his belief that in order to conquer their fear of the penalty shootout, the players needed to cultivate a different, warmer and more inclusive version of masculinity – to examine the state of England itself.
Multi-award-winning stage and screen writer, James Graham, talks to the Daily Echo ahead of the tour, which visits Southampton from January 13 to 17.
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He said: “I felt like a bit of a fraud in the world of competitive male sport. I wasn’t a sporty person at school. PE was my least favourite subject. I wanted to do plays. But I felt safe with Gareth – he’s a bit more like me, slightly shyer and softer and not an alpha male in the traditional sense. In a very Gareth Southgate way, he was mortified that the play was happening and that a famous actor was playing him. He said he wanted to help, but he would never come and see it.”
Others have though. Former England greats including Gary Lineker, David Seaman, Ian Wright and Alex Scott have enjoyed Dear England with ex striker Lineker describing the depiction of him as ‘bang on’.
Dear England, which is being made into a four-part TV series for the BBC, starts with the Southgate’s harrowing penalty miss in the Euro 96 semi final against Germany at Wembley.
Twenty years later, as England manager, Southgate was cultivating a new ethos inside the camp.
“The neatness and beauty of that arc, that the guy who was the emblem of missing a penalty was the guy who 20 years later came back to solve the problem was just incredible”, Graham added.
While his first version of Dear England – the title is taken from Southgate’s famous letter to fans during Covid and ahead of Euro 2020 – finished with Harry Kane missing a penalty against France at the World Cup in 2022, he has now updated it to take account of England’s ultimate loss to Spain in the final of Euro 2024.
Tickets are on sale now from mayflower.org.uk
