Dear England: your audio described introduction
This is an audio introduction to our production of Dear England by James Graham.
These include information about the pre-show touch tour, some background to the play and descriptions of the set, costume and characters. They are available as an audio file, as a word document and in full on this web page for screen readers.
The production lasts about 2 hours and 50 minutes including interval.
Please note this performance contains offensive language, strobe lights, bright lights directly focused at the audience and loud noises throughout.
Click here for the transcript of the audio file as a Word docx
It is also available here on this page:
Set, characters and costumes
‘Dear England’ tells the journey of the England football team led by Gareth Southgate, examining the personal, psychological, and political pressures of playing the game at a national level.
The design of the production is smooth, modern, minimal. The vast round stage is tilted upwards, rising as it gets further from the audience. Suspended above it is a massive ring, with white light glaring from its bottom edge. It tilts down towards the back of the space, reminiscent of the arch of Wembley Stadium, ‘The Cathedral of Football’, as it’s described in the play.
The floor is grey concrete, illuminated all around with a band of slender light, as though mirroring the light from the ring above. It comprises three revolving sections, which can move in unison, or in different directions and at different speeds. There’s an outer section about a metre and a half wide, an inner section a little broader than that, and a central circle, roughly four metres in diameter. At the very centre of this circle is a football sized light built into the floor – a penalty spot. The grey concrete is covered in criss-crossing arrows, some black, some faded grey, mimicking a diagram of the game plan employed by the players.
Angled down towards the highest point of the floor at the rear, the ring of light suspended above the ground creates the impression that we’re looking at a field, narrowing in perspective as it goes into the distance. When everything around it is in darkness, the glare of its white light can create a feeling of claustrophobia, as though the characters are caught inside the encircling blaze of floodlights.
The inner edge of the ring is used as a screen. Sometimes it shows repeated footage from past football games in black and white, so that the watchers are surrounded by missed penalties, replaying again and again in the air above them. Often, it mimics TV graphics – bold font introduces the squad by name, and during a match, it displays the score, and keeps track of penalties.
Curving along the entire length of the back wall is another screen, about 12 metres wide and 3 metres high. Although it’s often dark, it also sometimes plays footage of past games. When the team play in stadiums or head to different countries, it shows illustrated locations, sketched by lines of white light against darkness.
Matches often end in nail-biting penalty shootouts. One by one, the squad steps up to the spot at the very centre of the space. On the back screen, the goal appears as a looming rectangular void in the illustrated stadium. Circles displayed on the screen inside the ring keep track: if a penalty goes in, one circle is filled in white. If it’s missed, the screen flashes red, and another circle is filled with the same red.
There are open gangway entrances on either side of the back of the stage, where the characters make their entrances and exits.
The story moves from vast stadiums to intimate locker rooms by use of a few simple props. Plastic chairs with red seats and grey metal legs, are sometimes arranged classroom style, and a whiteboard’s brought on. During meetings with management, there are often one or two chairs arranged around the space, suggesting an office.
Tall plywood display cases showcase the shirts worn by the England squad, their glass fronted exteriors lined with white LED lights. The shirts inside the cases differ – sometimes they’re shown from the front, a record of the changing kit of the squad. At other times, they’re seen from the back, displaying the name and number of the players in the team.
The cases can be turned to become doorways for the squad to enter through, or a wall of lockers. The doors can also be removed, leaving them as boxes outlined in white light.
There’s a multi-racial cast of 23, who between them play an array of familiar characters, from 1996 through to the near present day. They include; the current men’s England Team manager, Gareth Southgate; his predecessors; FA directors; Team players and staff; football pundits; reporters and a broad sweep of English citizens. There are also some recognisable former Prime Ministers, however brief their tenure.
We first meet a young Gareth dressed in England kit, as he prepares to take his ill-fated penalty in the Euro 96 semi-final. He’s watched from a distance by his older self, mid-40’s, played by Gwilym Lee. Gareth is standing as he often does, with his hands thrust deep into his pockets, leaning back with a contemplative expression on his face. He’s white, tall and slim, dressed smartly in dark-blue suit trousers, and his once trademark matching waistcoat, with blue shirt and dark tie. On his feet are smart-black trainer-like shoes. Gareth has brown hair, a neatly cropped full beard, and high cheekbones. When he speaks, he often blinks, squints his eyes, and tilts his head, as though he’s carefully considering the most diplomatic response. He later wears a smart black polo-shirt, and sometimes sports England tracksuit tops, especially when in coaching mode.
Soon after being engaged as England manager, Gareth enlists the support of a psychologist, Pippa Grange, also mid 40’s, played by Liz White. She’s white, with straight brown hair with coppery highlights, cut to shoulder length, revealing simple chunky silver earings. Her bright blue eyes are steady and kind. Giving a talk on organisational psychology, she dresses in relaxed business-casual – white trainers on her feet, close-fitting light-blue chinos and a simple white v-neck knit with a collar. Later, she dons an England tracksuit top and wears close-fitting chinos in a matching navy along with her usual white trainers. At first, she stands on the outer edges of the coaching room and listens with a sometimes sceptical narrowing of her blue eyes, before she finds her place more centrally.
Pippa’s task is to help train the minds of Gareth’s youthful new recruits, some in their late teens, the oldest still in his early 20’s. Apart from their distinguishing facial features and physiques (though all athletic-looking), the players dress uniformly in the particular England kit of the time – variations of red, white or blue, with the 3-lions badge on their chests. In training they wear high-vis bibs coloured either yellow or orange, in equal number. What distinguishes Gareth’s novice team from previous England teams is its diversity.
There are 11 players, 6 Black and 5 white.
The team’s captain is Harry Kane, who wears the number 9 shirt. He’s white, with medium length sandy hair. He’s the tallest of the team, with gangly long legs, and has a slightly far-away look on his face as he searches for his words.
Raheem Stirling wears the number 10 shirt. He’s one of the shorter players, dark-skinned Black, with his hair plaited into cornrows that run back from his hairline. Raheem is, as Gareth says, unpredictable: cheeky, and as quick to laugh as he is to anger.
Jordan Pickford is the team’s goalkeeper, wearing the number 1 on his green kit. He’s white, with a freckled face and sandy brown hair slicked back. He has a bounding energy, bouncing about and smacking his gloved hands together or slapping himself in the face when facing a penalty.
Another Jordan, Jordan Henderson, wears the number 8 shirt. He’s white, with bright blue eyes, and one of the least vocal, apart from when sticking up for his home town.
Marcus Rashford wears the number 19 shirt. He’s Black, tall and unassuming, often with a thoughtful expression on his face.
His club teammate, Harry Maguire, is the number 6. He’s white, very tall, and affable, with long arms that often dangle a little gormlessly by his sides.
Deli Alli is the number 20. He’s Black, of mixed heritage, and slender, with tattoos covering his arms.
Bukayo Saka, Jordan Sancho and Kieran Trippier are the numbers 17, 7 and 12 respectively. All 3 are Black with Sancho and Trippier being lighter skinned.
Finally, Eric Dier, the number 4, is white, very tall, with close cropped fair hair.
Each of the players first appear in their club team kit, announcing themselves and their clubs on arrival.
The rest of the company play the supporting characters, amongst them two Gregs – Clarke and Dyke – the Football Association’s director and Chairman respectively. Both are white, middle-aged men, wearing non-descript suits. Greg Clarke is tall and stocky, Greg Dyke is short and paunchy. Clarke’s hair is short and grey. The actor playing Dyke wears a wig suggestive of the real character’s distinctive hair style, or lack of it – a bald pate with remaining silver strands at sides and back. This wig, along with the various others worn by actors to suggest their real-life character’s hair styles, is haphazardly applied, as if to present a mere sketch of the character, rather than a fully-rounded version.
Amongst the other wig-wearing characters are:
Past Prime Ministers: Theresa May, in 2-piece red skirt-suit and steel-grey bob wig; Boris Johnson, in a suit with shirt untucked and scruffy blonde wig and Liz Truss, who seems to waddle bow-legged in her high heels wearing a blonde curtain wig. The female PM’s are both played by a mixed-race female actor.
Gareth’s most noteable predecessors are: Sam Alladyce, in his fifties with slicked back grey hair, in shirt sleeves and crumpled suit trousers, his jacket folded over his arm as he meets the press ; Fabio Capello, (played by the same actor as Sam), this time in Armani suit and brown, curly-haired wig; Sven-Goran Eriksson, in sharp suit (which he’ll describe himself) and wig suggesting a balding pate, with sprouting grey hair at back and sides; and…Graham Taylor, played by the same actor as Greg Dyke, still short and paunchy, this time wearing a dyed black, side parted wig – again, his chosen outfit is self-described.
There are also brief appearances by other wigged characters, including the manager of the Panama team and the current FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, in a bald cap. Prominent amongst these passing characters is presenter Gary Lineker, who appears from time to time wearing a silver-haired wig, with glasses and wearing smart shirts and trousers, speaking into a BBC Sport microphone. Another former England player turned TV presenter is Lioness Alex Scott, a light skinned Black woman, who wears a wig of long, straightened dark hair. First appearing in her England tracksuit, she goes on to wear a smart blue coat, also holding a BBC Sport mic.
In his role as manager, Gareth is supported by his coaching team. They are all white men and include: Mike Webster, burly and bald, wearing tracksuit top and shorts; Steve Holland, who wears full tracksuit and is played by the same actor as Greg Dyke and Graham Taylor; and Physio Phil, also track-suited and played by the same actor as Sam Allardyce and Fabio Capello, amongst others. The final member of Gareth’s staff is his Operations Manager, Roxanne, played by the same actor as Alex Scott and Teresa May. Roxanne has corkscrew curls and wears a succession of silk shirts with abstract patterns on them, paired with business-appropriate trousers.
The sports press pack are on a regular hunt for their story – half a dozen journalists, majority men, in casual jackets and trousers.
And finally, there are the English public! They come and go, about their daily tasks, sometimes pausing to watch a game on imagined screens, played by all the actors apart from those playing Gareth and Pippa. The public include: a lollipop man; a nurse; a Deliveroo delivery guy; a Graffiti artist (or Tagger); a fish and chip man; a priest; a judge; a builder; a clown…and many, many others that show off impressive off-stage quick costume changes.
Cast and production credits
Gareth Southgate – Gwilym Lee
Pippa Grange – Liz White
Harry Kane – Ryan Whittle
Raheem Stirling – Gamba Cole
Jordan Pickford – Josh Barrow
Jordan Henderson – Joshua Hill
Marcus Rashford – Jude Carmichael
Harry Maguire – Ryan Donaldson
Dele Allie – Tristan Waterson
Bukayo Saka – Tane Siah
Jadon Sancho – Kadell Herida, who also plays Kieran Trippier
Eric Dier – Tom Lane
Greg Clarke – John Hodgkinson, who also plays Gianni Infantino and Matt Le Tissier
Greg Dyke – Tony Turner, who also plays Steve Holland and Graham Taylor
Theresa May – Felixe Forde, who also plays Liz Truss, Alex Scott and Roxanne
Boris Johnson – Gunnar Cauthery, who also plays Gary Lineker, Sven-Goran Eriksson and Wayne Roony
Sam Allardyce – Martin Marquez, who also plays Fabio Capello, Panama Manager and Physio Phil
Mike Webster – Mike Bardock
Ensemble – Jass Beki, Jordan Ford Silver, Courtney George, Will Harrison-Wallace, Miles Henderson, Philip Labey, Ellouise Shakespeare-Hart
Video Designer – Ash J Woodward
Co-Sound Designers – Dan Balfour & Tom Gibbons
Co- Movement Directors – Ellen Kane & Hannes Langolf
Lighting Designer – Jon Clarke
Costume Designer – Evie Gurney
Set Designer – Es Devlin
Director – Rupert Goold
Writer – James Graham