Find out how critics have been reacting to David Hare’s play, running in the West End until the 11th July.
Broadway World: “Grace Pervades will not go down as one of Hare’s greatest plays, but there is much to enjoy here, not least the real treat of seeing one of our finest actors performing on stage.”
Time Out: “It’s all good fun, a cheeky, self-referential and sometimes self-critical play. Never exceptional, but nor too dull, Hare’s play becomes a sweet panegyric, and a really traditional, really entertaining night both at the theatre and of the theatre.”
London Theatre.co.uk: “Overall, Grace Pervades features a good sprinkling of wit, and is an affectionate homage to the chains of theatrical inheritance.”
A Young(ish Perspective): “The script itself proves more challenging. There are flashes of humour, often rooted in theatrical sensibilities, but these moments are balanced by stretches where the pacing becomes slow and the narrative feels static. The play largely confines itself to the professional ambitions of its central figures, offering limited insight into their wider lives. As a result, the claim that Terry and Irving changed theatre forever is not fully realised on stage, especially for those without prior knowledge of their legacy.”
WhatsOnStage: “Grace Pervades, Hare’s 32nd play, is in many ways unexpected, an insight into a semi-forgotten time. Playing at the same moment in the West End as his early play Teeth ‘n’ Smiles, it’s a reminder of what a varied writer he is, with a remarkable ability to portray Englishness in all its multi-faceted strands, and to understand both the cost of art and its importance.”
The Reviews Hub: “There are some good lines, a smattering of comedy moments and the nub of some interesting discussions about the life of an actor as a servant to the play and to the company, as well as the extent to which a life onstage is more real for an actor, and certainly more meaningful than the one off it. But Grace Pervades feels incomplete. Even Jeremy Herrin’s direction is unusually flat in a play that ultimately is too invested in the revered reputations of Ellen Terry and Henry Irving rather than their complex flesh and blood reality.”
Plays To See: “As the old adage goes, in a good play everyone is right. This is certainly the case here, with each viewpoint getting a decent share of stage time from Hare so the audience can contemplate their relative merits and limitations. Invariably though, Fiennes seemed to dominate; his light-touch acting making for a humorously ironic contrast to Irving’s high mannerism and risible enunciation.”
British Theatre.com: “If you have any affection for theatre, and particularly for the rich history of London’s West End, Grace Pervades is essential viewing. It is that rare thing: a play about theatre that manages to be both deeply knowledgeable and thoroughly entertaining, never disappearing into insider self-congratulation. David Hare has written one of his most enjoyable works, and Ralph Fiennes and Miranda Raison deliver performances that will linger in the memory long after the curtain falls.”
British Theatre Guide: “Grace Pervades is probably aimed at theatre aficionados. It’s a brave attempt to honour the life of one of the giants of the theatre landscape and the influence of the family he builds up, but I left feeling that I wasn’t quite as wise about the great Henry Irving as I’d have hoped.”
All That Dazzles: “It may be set in the 19th and 20th centuries, but there is a timeless nature to the story of Grace Pervades that makes it every bit as powerful in the 21st. A cleverly written piece about not just two legendary actors, but the art of theatre as a whole. Though it playfully mocks the arts with its sharp writing and some cutting remarks, Grace Pervades ends up acting as a love-letter to theatre, eventually reminding everyone in attendance why we fell in love with the art form, and how plays like this can make their subjects immortal.”
London Unattached: “Cultural renewal is the privilege of the young, but The Theatre Royal Bath is doing all of us a service by sustaining our theatrical traditions and not throwing the baby out with the bathwater in the service of modish, funding-driven programming. By continuing to stage writers such as Terence Rattigan and by framing British theatrical history in Hare’s play, Grace Pervades, they are providing a sense of cultural continuity which should inform and not undermine the present. But maybe more importantly than any debates, go and see this show. It’s a terrific piece of theatre about the centrality of the art form to our society, and it’s a lot of fun.”
The Telegraph: “Two standout performances elevate Grace Pervades, a charming play about Victorian theatre’s power-couple.”
The Stage: “Ralph Fiennes and Miranda Raison shine in David Hare’s artful drama about two great Victorian performers.”
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