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Dear England

by James Graham

A lone figure stands, his back to us, wearing a waistcoat, shirt and trousers, in the centre of the red cross of the England flag that appears as a landscape rolling off into the distance.

Booking and details

10 March — 24 May 2025
Book now
The event location is

Olivier Theatre

National Theatre, South Bank, London SE1 9PX

The event duration is Approx 2 hours and 50 minutes including interval

The Olivier Award-winning smash hit returns to the National Theatre

The country that gave the world football has since delivered a painful pattern of loss. Why can’t England’s men win at their own game?

The team has the worst track record for penalties in the world, and manager Gareth Southgate knows he needs to open his mind and face up to the years of hurt to take team and country back to the promised land.

With the upcoming European Championship front of mind, writer James Graham (Punch, Nottingham Playhouse; Sherwood, BBC) and director Rupert Goold (Patriots, Cold War, Almeida Theatre) bring the story into 2024, with an updated version of this ‘thrilling’ (Sunday Times) examination of both nation and game.

Please note this is a fictionalised account of the struggles and successes of England’s football teams, based on extensive research and interviews. It features characters inspired by some real-life individuals, and some composite characters entirely imagined by the author.

Evening Standard review for Dear England

★★★★★

‘A theatrical spectacle as uplifting as any England victory.’

Telegraph

inews review for Dear England

★★★★★

‘A back-of-the-net winner’

The i

What's on Stage revew for Dear England

★★★★★

‘The beautiful game in a beautiful play’

WhatsOnStage

Suitability

Please note: This performance contains offensive language, strobe lights, bright lights directly focused at the audience and loud noises throughout.

Supporters

The commissioning of this production was supported by the Sir Peter Shaffer Charitable Foundation.

The original production at the National Theatre was generously supported by the Dear England Team of Production Champions.

Cast to be announced

Production team

Writer

James Graham

James Graham

Director

Rupert Goold

Rupert Goold

Set Designer

Es Devlin

Costume Designer

Evie Gurney 

Evie Gurney 

Lighting Designer

Jon Clark

Jon Clark

Co-Movement Director

Ellen Kane

Ellen Kane

Co-Movement Director

Hannes Langolf

Hannes Langolf

Co-Sound Designer

Dan Balfour

Dan Balfour

Co-Sound Designer

Tom Gibbons

Additional Music

Max Perryment

Max Perryment

Video Designer

Ash J Woodward

Casting Director

Bryony Jarvis-Taylor

Dialect Coach

Richard Ryder

Richard Ryder

Voice Coach

Cathleen McCarron

Cathleen McCarron

Voice Coach

Tamsin Newlands

Tamsin Newlands

Associate Director

Elin Schofield

Elin Schofield

Ticket prices

Monday – Saturday evenings and matinees:
£25, £39, £59, £79, £99

Previews 10 – 14 March:
£20, £35, £49, £64, £79

For concessions and discounts, see Ways to save

Please note the 6.30pm start time on the following performances: Tue 8 April, Thu 17 April, Thu 1 May and Tue 6 May.

Visit our Ticketing FAQs for information on how to book, ticket exchanges and more.

Prices may change according to demand

Assisted performances

Captioned

BSL Interpreted

Audio described

No Chilled performance available.

Relaxed performance

The interpreter for the BSL performance will be announced closer to the performance date.

Audio-described performances are preceded by a Touch Tour, 90 minutes before the performance start time. Call the Access line on 020 7452 3961 to book Touch Tours.

We have an allocation of tickets held for members of our Access scheme and if any of the assisted performances above are shown as “Sold Out”, tickets may still be available: Please log in to your account to view all available tickets, or call Box Office on 020 7452 3961

Smart caption glasses

Are planned to be available for performances of Dear England from 7.30pm, Wednesday 26 March.

Bookshop

Buy the poster for the original run of Dear England

Visit the Bookshop website for a wide range of playtexts, gifts and prints of past production posters.

 

 

Photography by Rick Guest and CGI by Rob Rae