Full Cast Set For National Tour of James Graham's DEAR ENGLAND

The National Theatre has revealed further casting for its national tour of Dear England. As previously announced, heading the cast will be David Sturzaker as England manager Gareth Southgate, with EastEnders and Mount Pleasant actress Samantha Womack playing the role of team psychologist Pippa Grange. 

The cast also includes returning performers Jass Beki as Bukayo Saka, Courtney George as Alex Scott, Miles Henderson as Ensemble, and Tom Lane as Eric Dier. They will be joined by new cast members Jake Ashton-Nelson as Jordan Henderson, Luke Azille as Jadon Sancho, Ian Bartholomew as Greg Dyke, Ashley Byam as Raheem Sterling, Steven Dykes as Sam Allardyce, Oscar Gough as Harry Kane, Jayden Hanley as Marcus Rashford, Connor Hawker as Harry Maguire, Ian Kirkby as Gary Lineker, Jack Maddison as Jordan Pickford, Liam Prince-Donnelly as Dele Alli, and George Rainsford as Mike Webster.

Also joining the company are Stuart Ash, Natalie Boakye, Sam Craig, and Jonathan Markwood. The cast will also be playing additional roles as part of the ensemble.

Football and non-football fans alike will be brought to their feet for this inspiring, at times heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting story of Gareth Southgate's revolutionary tenure as England manager.

The Olivier Award-winning Best New Play, which broke box office records during its West End run in 2023, will tour to 16 venues across England from 15 September 2025 until 14 March 2026 in a co-production with Josh Andrews and Stuart Galbraith for JAS Theatricals.

Dear England is written by the multi-award-winning stage and screen writer, James Graham (Punch, West End; Sherwood, BBC One), directed by the Almeida Theatre's Artistic Director Rupert Goold (Patriots, Ink; Almeida Theatre/West End/Broadway) with set design by Es Devlin (Beyonce's Renaissance, World Tour; The Lehman Trilogy, National Theatre).

It's time to change the game. The country that gave the world football has since delivered a painful pattern of loss. The England men's 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.

Dear England will launch at Theatre Royal Plymouth (15 – 20 September), and then tour to  Nottingham Theatre Royal (23 - 27 September), The Marlowe, Canterbury (7 – 18 October),  Sheffield Lyceum (21 – 25 October), Leeds Grand Theatre (4 – 8 November), Theatre Royal  Newcastle (11 – 15 November), Chichester Festival Theatre (20 – 29 November), Mayflower  Theatre, Southampton (13 – 17 January), Milton Keynes Theatre (20 – 24 January), New  Theatre, Oxford (27 – 31 January), Norwich Theatre Royal (3 – 7 February), New Victoria  Theatre, Woking (10 – 14 February), The Alhambra Theatre, Bradford (17 – 21 February),  New Wimbledon Theatre (24 – 28 February), Liverpool Empire (3 – 7 March) and  Birmingham Hippodrome (10 – 14 March). 

The wider creative team for Dear England includes Costume Designer, Evie Gurney; lighting designer, Jon Clark; co-movement directors, Ellen Kane and Hannes Langolf; video designer, Ash J Woodward; co-sound designers, Dan Balfour and Tom Gibbons, with additional music by Max Perryment.

They are joined by tour revival director Connie Treves, revival movement director Tom Herron, casting director Bryony Jarvis-Taylor CDG, associate set designer Alice Hallifax, associate lighting designer Ben Jacobs, associate video designer Libby Ward, associate sound designer Johnny Edwards, casting associate Lilly Mackie, and resident director Dan Hutton.