Grace Pervades – Theatre Royal Haymarket – Saturday 30th May 2026

(Rated 4/5) For this theatre day out, my companion and I agreed to meet at an old haunt – “Dug Out Corner” as there used to be an eatery called ‘The Dug Out’ there many moons ago. It is now ‘Steak and Company’ - you choose your meat and are given it alongside a choice of salt, butter and sauce and a hot stone tablet to cook it on yourself. (So delicious as is their sticky toffee pudding!) I arrived pretty early and looked for somewhere to wait for my friend. I could see a bench behind a large statue of someone. I thought I better check who they are so I could message where I’d be sitting. It turned out to be Sir Henry Irving and ‘Steak and Company’ are on Irving Street!

David Hare’s ‘Grace Pervades’ is a highly ambitious play in the main about the contributions of Sir Henry Irving and Ellen Terry to theatre. Ralph Fiennes plays Irving and Miranda Raison is the Grace Pervading of the title within and emanating from Ellen Terry. I am fascinated by any history of the theatre and this felt so important – that and such a moving interview with Ralph Fiennes on ‘Lorraine’ in which he shone with enthusiasm about Victorian Theatre, the protagonists and intelligently extoled on Shakespeare and all we can learn from him about human nature. He won me over completely, so of course, I was going to give it a go if I could. Unfortunately, the tickets seemed very pricey indeed so I chose Royal Circle rather than stalls, and because I am struggling with my right knee, second row which gives more room, and I sat on an aisle seat so I could stick my leg out to the side. Rather amusingly there was a man in the front row who was doing the same with his left leg! Also, connected to that my companion noted Ralph has very skinny legs so a leg theme going on 😉 My companion also noted he would look good in Kinky Boots, and I also need to confess that part way through the performance I was wishing I was watching Kinky Boots again. Sadly, I didn’t feel the enthusiasm for it I had felt watching Ralph’s interview. My friend agreed something was missing emotionally for or failing to land with us.

In the play, David Hare has Ellen Terry’s children – Edward Gordon Craig (Jordan Metcalfe) and Edith Craig (Ruby Ashbourne Serkis) – narrate the events over the lifetimes of Henry and Ellen from their meeting up to her death (after his) – and within that jumping back and forth in time Ellen’s children’s contributions to theatre also. I felt it started beautifully with a montage of Ellen performing a wealth of Shakespearian roles alongside Henry and the ensemble, and I really felt her psychologically and highly expressively embodying each part. Yet it seemed to dip from there as soon as they were both themselves – or rather Miranda as Ellen and Raph as Henry. I felt I couldn’t connect with or really feel emotional expression from either of them. Having heard it has really impressive reviews, I felt we were missing/not getting something and had got it wrong! Thinking back, I now believe part of the problem to be that Hare was trying to include way too much to fit in all the history from all his sources. Not only that, it felt jam-packed with exposition – not just in the narration from the adult children – but also even between Henry and Ellen. Show not tell is the key, David! There was a large cast of characters too, feeling more like name-checking key people of the time including Isadora Duncan, Stanislavski and Vita Sackville-West, which again for me took away from the intimate creation of moving interaction, which I would assume Henry and Ellen achieved together in reality. It left me wanting to know more on their contributions to theatre as I felt I got too little! Hm. A real shame. Or could it also be that being so far from the stage you don’t feel absorbed into the world – you’re too detached?

I do think everyone performed well and the production was visually stunning with wonderful sets and glorious costumes of the time. I think I’ve seen David Hare’s work before and felt the same – or rather felt that I didn’t feel enough. So possibly he is just not to my taste. I’m in no doubt he worked very hard on the piece and paid a lot of attention to detail, so, in spite of all the above, a very admirable effort, and he certainly shouldn’t worry about this restricted reviewer when he has rave reviews from elsewhere! Grace Pervades – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2026

‘Frozen’ – Theatre Royal Haymarket – Tuesday 10th April 2018 ‘Marcella’ – Season 2 - ITV - Final Episode broadcast Monday 9th April 2018

(Rated 7/5 ) 

So we have 2 lady leads again but this time in 2 different productions – ‘Frozen’ and ‘Marcella’ - yet linked by a single theme hence my writing about them together. And that theme child abuse and murder! Jolly really! Oh and I suppose another link is two supreme actresses who both started out in soaps; Suranne Jones as feisty Karen McDonald in ‘Coronation Street’ and Anna Friel as the ground-breaking lesbian and incest-abuse survivor/challenger Beth Jordache in ‘Brookside’. They are both of a rare breed who do well in soap and then even better when they leave. Rumour is Suranne will be making a return to ‘Corrie’ – maybe they’re concerned about ratings when the demise of Phelan finally comes ;)

Anyway both plays are profoundly horrifying and leave you chilled and stunned. They explore the psychology of abuse – in various forms - on all concerned.

In ‘Frozen’ by Bryony Lavery, Suranne plays the mother of a little girl who has gone missing. Jason Watkins’s character turns out to be her abuser and child murderer. And Nina Sosanya acts as a doctor studying the factors which cause people to abuse. Taking place over a number of years, much of the play is delivered in the form of monologues from each of those 3 – alone on stage communicating as though directly to the audience or we act as witnesses to their processes. We feel intrigued as to whether these three will interact at some point. Suranne’s character fully engages us and with her highly sensitive exceptionally natural emotional range we feel such empathy for her. Jason is excellently creepy and repellent as the abuser – his perversion and motivations feel so real – again excellently performed. It is down to Nina to initially bring us into the play and as time proceeds involve us mentally – we already are emotionally - as she presents her lecture on the psychology of abuse. This involves neuroscience and the impact of abuse, stress and neglect on the human brain. Ultimately we learn what may lead someone to harm someone else. This is powerful naturalistic stuff and presents us with themes of emotional paralysis and the way forgiveness can both help those who have suffered as a result of abuse and as a catalyst for an abuser to reconnect with emotion even feel pain and empathy for their victim.

‘Marcella’ in some contrast has much more of a surreal tone to it and there seems little hope of forgiveness in its stark, brutal scandinoir-type-ness. No surprise as it is written by the outstanding ‘The Bridge’’s writer Hans Rosenfeldt. Whilst Suranne’s character seems to have had a normal down-to-earth life before the loss of her daughter, Anna’s character is a deeply disturbed mother with severe mental health issues. She is just as – if not more – traumatised – even prior to the actions of the piece – than the perpetrators of the crimes she is investigating in her detective work. As such she struggles as a mother whilst we feel the full warmth of mothering from Suranne’s character. However both also show remarkable strength and humanity.

‘Marcella’ raises some interesting, dubious and at times horrific ideas as to how to prevent abuse – no spoilers here so I will say no more! ‘Frozen’ is kinder and more compassionate about it though to what result? Again no spoilers.

Though these both come with an emotional health warning – I would highly recommend both dramas. Enjoy is not the word but they touched me profoundly and I feel I have gained from experiencing them.

A little note on settings – TV is clearly your TV in your own room J The Theatre Royal Haymarket is a wonderful ‘oldy wordly’ classic theatre – with lots of stairs – though I was told of a way to get directly to street level via a back-entrance – and ornate décor. I have enjoyed many masterclasses held there and recommend for students of theatre as well as audience members interested in the theatrical process.

Frozen & Marcella – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2018