Grace Pervades

by David Hare

People arguing, that isn't theatre. People making points. And what's more, you and I don't belong in drawing rooms. Drawing rooms can't contain us. We need courts and palaces and cathedrals. There's scale for us there. We can move our elbows. Little rooms give us no space.


Henry Irving believes that theatre is the only thing that matters. Ellen Terry believes it's more important to be a decent human being. Ellen's daughter Edith Craig believes theatre can change society, but her son Edward Gordon Craig dreams only of a theatre free from actors and dialogue. Together, but in very different ways, they develop the paths which lead to the modern British theatre.


David Hare's magnificent play opened at Theatre Royal Bath, in June 2025.

128 pages, Paperback

Published July 3, 2025

About the author

Sir David Hare (born 5 June 1947) is an English playwright, screenwriter and theatre and film director. Most notable for his stage work, Hare has also enjoyed great success with films, receiving two Academy Award nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay for writing The Hours in 2002, based on the novel written by Michael Cunningham, and The Reader in 2008, based on the novel of the same name written by Bernhard Schlink.

On West End, he had his greatest success with the plays Plenty, which he adapted into a film starring Meryl Streep in 1985, Racing Demon (1990), Skylight (1997), and Amy's View (1998). The four plays ran on Broadway in 1982–83, 1996, 1998 and 1999 respectively, earning Hare three Tony Award nominations for Best Play for the first three and two Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play. Other notable projects on stage include A Map of the World, Pravda, Murmuring Judges, The Absence of War and The Vertical Hour. He wrote screenplays for the film Wetherby and the BBC drama Page Eight (2011).

As of 2013, Hare has received two Academy Award nominations, three Golden Globe Award nominations, three Tony Award nominations and has won a BAFTA Award, a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and two Laurence Olivier Awards. He has also been awarded several critics' awards such as the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, and received the Golden Bear in 1985. He was knighted in 1998.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ha...

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of course, I had to learn the basics about Henry Irving, Ellen Terry, and her son, Edward Gordon Craig while pursuing my own drama studies, but not in as much detail as what is trotted out here. Reviews of this new play were mostly laudatory towards star Ralph Fiennes and his foil, Miranda Raison, but not terribly kind towards the play itself. For the most part, I found it both fascinating and surprisingly witty - but there are two things keeping it from first-rate greatness.

First off is some rather clunky exposition that in no way comes off as the casual banter it is presented as. Secondly, the overlong play (running 2 1/2 hours) is almost evenly divided between the Irving/Terry thread, and that of her two offspring - who, however important and interesting in their own right just cannot compete for one's full attention. I'm wondering how well the play would perform WITHOUT the star power and magnetism of Fiennes in the lead - but wish I could have witnessed what looks like a very sumptuous production.

Also made me want to check out A Strange Eventful History: The Dramatic Lives of Ellen Terry, Henry Irving and their Remarkable Families, that this was based upon.

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/202...
https://www.thetimes.com/culture/thea...
https://www.broadwayworld.com/westend...
https://observer.co.uk/culture/theatr...
https://www.bristol247.com/culture/th...
https://www.whatsonstage.com/news/gra...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuhNJ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgD1b...

[Melanie Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

All that I hoped for - at last a wonderful play about Ellen Terry, Henry Irving, Edith Craig and Edward Gordon Craig! I'm happy some of the scenes are set at Smallhythe Place, as I have very fond memories of a recent visit there.

[William Harris · Rating 2 out of 5]

For anyone else, without Hare’s stellar ear and theatrical genius, this might have been. 3 star. Either way, it lacks a spark to bring its valid, serious ideas to life. They’re ideas one’s encountered elsewhere, so a new play about them needs something fresh to animate it. I love Hare, the historical period at hand, and meta theater. Despite some nice moments, it didn’t engage me. I’m sure Ralph Fiennes and the other actors were wonderful, but purposeful material would have been better.

[Brice Ezell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something I could see taking a greater life on stage than it does the page. As a person who got their PhD in literature specializing in drama written by guys like David Hare, I am predisposed to enjoy a historical play about major figures in modern British drama talking about modern British drama. But the episodic quality of the scenes makes Grace Pervades fragmented and disconnected, a whole less than the sum of its parts.

[T P Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read though even better to see staged. It's a big sprawling play that reflects on different approaches to drama the conflict between the artist and the human being. There's some good use of humour. It's not one of his better plays but still thought provoking.