Review: GRACE PERVADES at Theatre Royal Haymarket

The mannered and self-conscious stiltedness in Ralph Fiennes’ delivery of Sir Henry Irving, is a credit to the actor and the great actor manager of the Victoria era whom he portrays, rendering him watchable, if not entirely likeable. Dour, dark and brooding, he was naturally drawn to the more tragic figures, being most renowned for his death scenes. Miranda Raison as Ellen Terry, attempts to steer the great man to a wider variety of plays and especially covets the chance to play Rosalind in Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Outside of his comfort zone, the comedy proves too daunting a prospect for him to ever mount a production for her. He also eschews the modern dramatists such as George Bernard Shaw with whom he shared a mutual dislike. These disappointments aside Terry remained loyal, playing leading ladies to his male lead roles at the Lyceum for decades, and on protracted tours to America. It is during this time that they moved the dial of public opinion in respect of theatre, considerably, developing its high-art status which continues to this day.

Over the course of 25 vignettes ranged between the late 1870s and mid-1960s (presented out of chronological sequence), GRACE PERVADES takes us from the pair’s first key drawing room conversations about a full on-stage partnering, to their final meeting at his bedside following a fall at Wolverhampton shortly before his death.

Ruby Ashbourne-Serkis who was devastatingly good in Hampstead’s recent revival of Stoppard’s Indian Ink, makes the most of a relatively small supporting part here as Ellen Terry’s daughter Edith Craig. Meanwhile Jordan Metcalfe as her spoilt and egotistical brother Edward Gordon Craig attempts to pass himself off as the genius of modernist interpretive theatre and succeeds in appearing to be the most pompous and feckless of pseuds — despite apparently being lauded by a youthful Peter Brook as a foundational visionary.

As with Straight Line Crazy at the Bridge Theatre in 2022, the Hare/Fiennes combo ensures box office tills will be ringing, but there is a certain staid feel to proceedings which I suspect would have benefited from a more energised, assertive and rebellious emphasis with the Ellen Terry role. The title of the piece references an unkind comment about the great actress, made by Charles Reade who was alluding to her multiple marriages and the conceiving of illegitimate children despite the undeniable on-stage artistry which had resulted in her being made a Dame. Thankfully times have changed and such opinions (especially coming from a man) now seem not only outdated, but hypocritical and absurdly judgemental.

GRACE PERVADES runs 2hrs 30mins with a 20min interval and continues at Theatre Royal Haymarket until 11th July.

Grace Pervades Tickets