I have never believed that we should just stick to football

The latest in an occasional series of theatre reviews...

Dear England : The Olivier Theatre 

Well, this is different from the usual review in several ways - I wasn't on my own (because I was accompanied by the lovely Mrs Reed) and I was in the posh seats (because I was accompanied by the lovely Mrs Reed). Somewhat surprisingly, given the high football content, this was her choice - it originally ran a couple of years ago to great reviews, but has come back updated to take into account the last European Championships. 

It was also a trip to a new theatre - I'd previously been to the Lyttleton Theatre at the National, but this was my first trip to the main theatre there. And very impressive it was too as we walked down to our very well positioned, comfortable and spacious seats (Mrs Reed does need her leg room). The stage looked impressive too - but it gave very little clue as to what we were going to get. 

As the lights went down, the top ring rose to display the Old Wembley towers with a lone man centre stage about to take a penalty - I wonder who it could be? And, at a very basic level, the play told the story of how that penalty miss impacted Gareth Southgate's road to redemption as the England manager - a job he held for eight years, achieving considerably more success then anyone imagined he would when he started the job.

A large part of story is told through interaction with the various members of his squad - Kane, Dier, Rashford, Pickford, Sterling, Dele Ali, Maguire, Trippier, Henderson, Saka and Sancho all play major roles. Additionally, the squad also includes three male coaches/physios and Pippa Grange, a female psychologist brought in by Gareth to strengthen the resilience of the players -and the whole lot of them are often all on stage at the same time, so it's lucky there's plenty of room for them all!

Additionally, there are various other characters wandering in and out of the story - Greg Clarke (the head of the FA), several ex England managers, Gary Lineker, Teresa May, Alex Scott and assorted members of the public! Yes, various people take on multiple roles, but this isn't a play with a small cast.

However, in terms of the writing, casting and acting, most of it is absolutely spot on. Gareth is played by Gwilym Lee and he carries it off well, giving us a fundamentally decent man who isn't without his flaws. Pippa is well played by Liz White, demonstrating both her patience and frustration as she tries to help both him and the players. For someone with a passing knowledge of football, I thought the casting of some of the players was exceptional with Jordan Pickford (Josh Barrow) and Jude Carmichael (Marcus Rashford) being particularly on the money - Harry Kane (Ryan Whittle) was also good, but I did feel Harry was slightly harshly treated with the way he was written.

However, the play goes to great lengths to point out that this is a fictionalised version of people and events so it's only reasonable that a certain amount of artistic licence is taken. I suspect someone much wiser than me could go to great lengths to point out this isn't really a play about football at all, but something much cleverer than that, being a study of the fragility of the male ego with each member of the squad representing various aspects of the male psyche and the female psychologist representing - well, something else. 

But for those of us who read less into things, it's a play about football - but it's not a play that requires any knowledge of football (you really just need to know that penalties are a thing) or the characters involved (but the more you know, the funnier it is). And it is pretty funny, whilst still being pretty serious - there's plenty to laugh at and think about here, without being overly challenging. It's also well set - the backscreen and rotating stage are put to good use to represent multiple environments from cramped locker rooms to Wembley Stadium.

All in all, this was a great night out in a lovely and comfortable theatre which we both thoroughly enjoyed. It's on for another six weeks and there are still tickets available and it's a strong recommendation from me - it's all done very well (and I was amazed how much of the story I'd forgotten).

Backstroke - Missed the spot for me
The Years - Not as great as they said