The Late Middle Classes

"In David Leveaux's sensitive revival, it emerges as one of Gray's best plays: a quietly moving portrait of repressive 1950s England and, in particular, of the way children often become the victim of adult dreams and desires."
Michael Billington for The Guardian

"There's a fundamental uncertainty about whether the play is a comedy of manners, a period satire or a sideways look at the machinations of paedophilia. In trying to be all three, it lacks not just clarity of purpose but also a tonal centre — and a moral one."
Henry Hitchings for The Evening Standard

"Funny, engaging and sharp...But when the action switches to the piano teacher's home it abruptly darkens."
Libby Purves for The Times

"The late Harold Pinter, who first directed the late Simon Gray's The Late Middle Classes, found it to be a rich and beautifully wrought piece of work that was 'deeply satisfying' to direct. I see what he means but I do not share his certainty...Line by line, though, the writing is a joy, and Helen McCrory is both devilish and divine. ."
Michael Coveney for The Independent

"Simon Gray's The Late Middle Classes suffers from the very constipation it alleges of postwar England."
Quentin Letts for The Daily Mail

"In so many ways this is a polished gem of a play in which Gray dissects class and the horror of exposure."
Paul Callan for Daily Express

"f David Leveaux, who inherits Pinter's directorial mantle, may have inserted enough pregnant Pinteresque pauses to slow it down a bit, he has also lent it a heavy, heaving heartbeat that captures the poignant soul of the play and leaves your own heart beating a little bit faster."
Mark Shenton for The Stage

"Rich, haunting play...There is a rare subtlety, and ambiguity about the piece, a mixture of comedy combined with something far darker that resists easy explanation or analysis. "
Charles Spencer for Daily Telegraph

External links to full reviews from popular press
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