Terry Teachout of The Wall Street Journal reviewing the 2012 revival wrote "If life were fair, Brian Friel, the foremost living playwright in the English-speaking world, would have won a Nobel Prize long ago. All you see in "Lovers" are Mr. Friel's small-town characters, realized so fully (by Mr. Riordan and Ms. Salata in particular) that they give the impression of having been played by ordinary people...Like Horton Foote and August Wilson, he takes everyday speech and turns it into something not too far removed from poetry. He has a great ear—and a great heart." The New York Times assessed the revival to be "expertly acted" and wrote "Mr. Friel explores what is unsaid, hauntingly. Even his minor works, like "Lovers", hold magic."