Child sexual abuse is not the easiest theme to tackle. We attended “Grace” on the day of the Women’s March here in Toronto, which unwittingly heightened our expectations of the production. In the #metoo era, an exploration of sex abuse survival is not out of place and very much in demand as we strive to learn more about the toxic societal hierarchies that we’d become numb to.
Right from the start, we are asked by the narrator to not think of this as a therapy play. We are asked to not think of this as reality or as anyone’s personal experience. We’re told that the character’s names have been changed and so have their stories. We’re constantly told what the play isn’t, which makes us wonder what the play actually is.
We learn about the abuse the narrator’s sister experienced at the hands of a family friend in their childhood. The story is told in turn by Grace’s sister, her father and mother, as well as by Grace herself. The storytelling is tender and pays respect to Grace’s intricate emotions. However, it dips into sentimentality too often and too predictably. The play’s second half focuses on the inability of the justice system to punish the perpetrator of this heinous crime. Grace’s family reads old letters, statistics, laws to present her case to us but nothing is novel about this recounting. The performances are restrained and the structure of the play is not as creative as it could have been.
Surviving child sexual abuse is personal to too many of us and in the audience too there were many audible sighs and cries. But if a play about sexual abuse doesn’t do anything else but tell a sequential story with the very obvious expected emotions, it’s not adding to the conversation or teaching us something new or challenging our long-held beliefs.
“Grace” is an emotional and heartfelt play. It will strike a chord if you’ve experienced similar trauma but if you haven’t, besides empathy there is not much that you will take home from it. The “Grace” team will no doubt build on this production and go on to hit the nail on the head on subsequent productions but “Grace” itself leaves a lot to be desired.
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– Prachi Kamble