Down to a Fiennes art

Theatre Royal Bath has quite the treat in store as celebrated actor Ralph Fiennes performs and directs a selection of plays at the venue this summer and autumn. JEFFREY DAVIES finds out about the exciting season ahead from the man himself.

- JEFFREY DAVIES

In an undoubted coup for West Country audiences, this summer and autumn will see the Theatre Royal in Bath host the Ralph Fiennes/Theatre Royal Bath Season in which the Bafta and Tony Award-winning actor will perform in and direct a selection of plays and a programme additional events in the Main House.

This week, the world premiere of David Hare's new play Grace Pervades opened. It was written especially for the prestigious and exclusive season at the beautiful Georgian venue, and audiences can see star of stage and screen Ralph Fiennes playing the legendary actor Henry Irving alongside Miranda Raison as Irving's wife Ellen Terry.

Grace Pervades tells the extraordi-nary story of the couple, the greatest stars of the Victorian stage, and Ellen's troubled and brilliant children - Edith Craig and Edward Gordon Craig - who made their own profound contributions to the development of British theatre.

Both Henry Irving and Ellen Terry performed at the Theatre Royal Bath during their theatrical careers.

"Hi Jeffrey, Ralph here," Ralph Fiennes, one of the greatest stage and screen stars of his generation said, welcoming me warmly during a break in rehearsals for Grace Pervades in this first joint Ralph Fiennes/Theatre Royal Bath Season of fine stage productions.

Introducing the production, Ralph explained: "It's the story of the Victorian actors Henry Irving and Ellen Terry, who were the leading lights of the theatre at the end of the 19th century. Irving, arguably, created an exciting form of theatre, a combination of a sort of poetic mythic narrative spectacle. He was an extremely precise and imaginative director, as well as someone who brought characters to life in the way that people hadn't seen before.