{"id":773206,"date":"2026-02-18T19:06:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T19:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/773206\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T19:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T19:06:12","slug":"dear-england-reflects-on-good-and-bad-of-the-beautiful-game-as-world-cup-fever-builds-in-bradford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/773206\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear England reflects on good and bad of the beautiful game as World Cup fever builds in Bradford"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acclaimed play Dear England will be at The Alhambra Theatre, in Bradford, through to Saturday, February 21\"You<\/p>\n

You can see Dear England at The Alhambra Theatre, in Bradford, until Saturday, February 21<\/p>\n

(Image: Marc Brenner)<\/p>\n

In this, a World Cup year, some are starting to dream again. So, what better time for stage play Dear England to tour.<\/p>\n

Bradford<\/a> was a city with an encaptivating sense of football in the air on Tuesday evening. The Bantams<\/a> maintaining a promotion push at Valley Parade while Dear England opened at The Alhambra Theatre.<\/p>\n

The National theatre piece, from the pen of writer James Graham, famous for Quiz and Brian and Maggie, has earned great acclaim since its 2023 London debut. Now on its debut UK tour, the production sees David Sturzaker donning that rather famous waistcoat to become former England men\u2019s team manager Gareth Southgate.<\/p>\n

Dear England, which won the 2024 Laurence Olivier Award for best new play, spans Southgate\u2019s tenure, helming the Three Lions between 2016 and 2024. The ups-and-downs of his time across four major tournaments – including challenges on-and-off the pitch.<\/p>\n

The powerful production offers real insight into the complicated task of changing a culture – in the dressing room and outside. Bradford audiences will see Southgate pair with psychologist Pippa Grange, played by former EastEnder Samantha Womack providing a real air of composure, to undertake the unenviable task.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

David Sturzaker plays Gareth Southgate in Dear England<\/p>\n

In many ways, Southgate\u2019s life will be defined by those dreaded penalties. From his own, weight of the nation, misfortune as a player during Euro 1996 to England\u2019s Euro 2020 shootout final defeat to Italy – when he was the team\u2019s boss.<\/p>\n

Dear England balances tenderness and humour brilliantly. Displayed with Womack\u2019s Grange encouraging Southgate, and his team, that \u2018talking up\u2019 shouldn\u2019t be seen as a weakness.<\/p>\n

Sturzaker, who captures the quiet pride and mannerisms of Southgate brilliantly, asks the psychologist whether England would be a happier place to live – if he\u2019d have converted in 1996, from the spot, against Germany. The dry humour, raising many laughs, from Grange\u2019s sharp reply of: \u201cWho knows. We live in the world where you f**king didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

The narrative displaying the notion of \u2018collective trauma\u2019 from countless \u2018what if?\u2019 moments weighing heavy on Southgate, his young players and the country. Balancing the serious tone, there\u2019s lots of comedy to be found in Dear England – particularly in its first act.<\/p>\n

\"Samantha<\/p>\n

Samantha Womack appears in Dear England(Image: Marc Brenner)<\/p>\n

From depictions bumbling former managers to politicians of even greater incompetence – there was much laughter at the Bradford city centre venue on Tuesday evening. Football fans in the audience getting a kick out of the good natured send-ups of heroes including Harry Kane, Jordan Pickford and Yorkshire\u2019s own Harry Maguire.<\/p>\n

The sport lending itself surprisingly well to choreography, presented on a stunning set designed by Ed Devlin. The two dovetailing greatly with fluidity as fun unicorn training camp pool parties contrast with the stark feeling of vulnerability back in the changing room. The versatility of the play\u2019s lighting, and its set-up, deserve great praise.<\/p>\n

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A feeling of seriousness ramps up during the second act of director Rupert Goold\u2019s play. Sturzaker, who at this stage in playing the former England gaffer has his posture down to a tee, uses his portrayal to delve into what Englishness is.<\/p>\n

Prior to his team\u2019s appearance at the Covid-delayed Euro 2000, asking what does the flag of St George actually mean? There\u2019s no ignoring the of-the-moment observation which sees Southgate conclude that is \u2018emotive and complicated\u2019.<\/p>\n

Not afraid to show the ugly side of the beautiful game, Dear England is at its best when it doesn\u2019t just stick to football. Not shirking a tackle. Displaying great eloquence through its depiction of the horrific abuse Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka suffered after missing penalties in the aforementioned final of Euro 2020. Cleverly using the actual words of the latter, and Southgate, the play\u2019s title also paying homage to manager’s words, to capture a country divided. As Womack\u2019s Grange cuttingly remarks: \u201cIt is about learning to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The successful women’s England team is honoured in the popular play(Image: Marc Brenner)<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the recent achievements of England\u2019s women rightly feature in Dear England with them earning enthusiastic applause of appreciation in Bradford on Tuesday night. While those present also enjoyed a jukebox playlist of football anthems at the Alhambra.<\/p>\n

The cast all shine with former Corrie baddie Geoff Metcalfe, appearing in a number of roles raising a smile alongside Oscar Gough, as Harry Kane, and Connor Hawker as Sheffield\u2019s great ‘Slabhead’ Harry Maguire<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Dear<\/p>\n

Dear England is on-tour after proving a hit in London(Image: Marc Brenner)<\/p>\n

Ultimately, on-the-pitch, perhaps Southgate\u2019s time as England manager falls into heroic in failure – something which tends to define the English way. But Southgate, now Sir Gareth, of course, was much more than a football manager as Dear England depicts. As successor Thomas Tuchel quite rightly puts it as the engrossing narrative reaches its conclusion, Southgate made the impossible job possible again.<\/p>\n

Later this year, fans of the production will be able to see Joseph Fiennes, who played Southgate in Dear England\u2019s first incarnation, star in a BBC TV show capturing the drama. One does wonder what the modest Harrogate<\/a>-based Southgate thinks of it all.<\/p>\n

For now, Dear England is a top of the table adaptation which is worth seeing a hat-trick of times. As audience members left on Tuesday, many joined in with an airing of Baddiel and Skinner’s It’s Coming Home, we’ll have to wait and see if that’s the case come the summer festivites in the USA…<\/p>\n

Dear England will be at The Alhambra Theatre, in Bradford, through to Saturday, February 21. You can buy tickets here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can find the latest event news in Yorkshire<\/a> and nearby by visiting our What’s On homepage<\/a>. There you can also find days out guides for things to do across the region.<\/p>\n

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Yorkshire Live has launched Explore Yorkshire, which will look at Yorkshire’s unique identity and destinations and celebrate God’s Own County for what it is – the best place in the world. Whether you are looking for a day out, a weekend away or to try somewhere new, Explore Yorkshire is here to help. Our brilliant new newsletter will bring all of this content together for you in one place – sign up here to get it direct to your inbox<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Acclaimed play Dear England will be at The Alhambra Theatre, in Bradford, through to Saturday, February 21 You…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":773207,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5008],"tags":[226007,38406,748,189723,393,12632,4884,162364,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-773206","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-england","8":"tag-alhambra","9":"tag-bradford","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-days-out-in-yorkshire","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-england-football-team","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-things-to-do-in-yorkshire","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116093202524045805","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}