National Theatre, London
It’s a game of two halves, but James Graham’s dramatisation of Southgate rescuing a languishing England team delivers tension and movement
James Graham’s story of the beautiful game and the travails of the England squad has some beautiful moments. It traces the team’s fortunes from the moment their diffident, upstanding and quietly revolutionary manager, Gareth Southgate (Joseph Fiennes, bearing an uncanny resemblance), comes into their lives.
It traces real world events, from penalty shootouts that bring a life-like tension to the aftermath of losing a game. The meat of the play is Southgate’s inspirational leadership of an England squad that’s languishing when he first takes over, and to which he gives new life, leading the team all the way to the semi-finals in the 2018 World Cup and onwards.
Plays until 11 August at the National Theatre
