With this strangely moving piece, playwright James Graham achieves something genuinely novel for the National Theatre. As the troubled but beautiful young England players bounce towards the crowd singing Sweet Caroline, the audience rises and joins in like a terrace crowd – yelling “so good, so good, so good” as if Southgate’s squad has won the cup. Joseph Fiennes’ Southgate – an uncanny resemblance – sets out to cure England of its fundamental flaw. Southgate is concentrating on the England team, but Graham weaves nation and players together, trapped by the past, scared of the future, unable to break free and bask in the sun. With Gina McKee’s psychologist, he charts a three-act story, promising victory at the end. As the players grow into role models and protestors, he’s knocked off course and Graham’s final joke is to finish at the second act. Promise hangs in the final few lines – can team and country manage the reinvention we all so badly need?
Photograph Marc Brenner
