An unforgettable experience in the theatre, thanks to perfect production and great acting. - Simon Cooper
14 Oct 11
Nigel Lindsay was superb as Hyman, nigh on perfect. I was a little disappointed by Anthony Sher's portrayal of Gellburg which I felt left a little to be desired of the character. Despite this the performance was very good and the chemistry on stage was fantastic - Billy McClure
21 Oct 10
The message behind Arthur Miller's Broken Glass might be a bit obscure but there is no doubt that Iqbal Khan has directed a very superior production. Lucy Cohu is superb as the wife stricken with hysterical paralysis, apparently in sympathy for the suffering of her fellow Jews in Nazi Germany, but also because of the tyranny and remoteness of her husband. Surprisingly this is the first time I have seen Anthony Sher on stage and he is equally brilliant as Gellburg whose desperate attempts to suppress his Jewishness boil over in occasional terrifying bursts of frustration and rage. There is also excellent support from Nigel Lindsay and it is clear from close proximity that he has the required stature for when he goes green next year. With some atmospheric live cello between scenes this all makes for a highly charged experience - mind you it needs to be to tolerate the Tricycle's increasingly absurd refusal to ditch the ridiculous unreserved seating. - David Baxter
21 Oct 10
What about the cellist, Terri?!! The regular highlighting of the cellist playing very unusual and interesting music gave the play another dimension, I felt. This production gave us a wonderful evening - full of excellent acting and a challenging story about love, hate and repression, both between couples and communities. gave us plenty of food for thought. - Gill B
13 Oct 10
A superb production of a fascinating and disturbing play. Tony Sher is mesmerising as Philip but Nigel Lindsay and Lucy Cohu are also outstanding. As so often, a stupenous evening at the Tricycle. - fred
07 Oct 10
Antony Sher's acting brought me out in goose pimples. His break down/ heart attack was utterly convincing in every detail. A fascinating play, brilliantly performed and directed. - jojo wright
07 Oct 10
I vividly remember being at the UK premiere of this play 16 years ago. At the end, lead actor Henry Goodman pointed to a man a few rows behind me and the audience rose to its feet to give Arthur Miller a standing ovation.
Not everyone agreed (nothing new there, then) but I thought it was his best play in the 40 years since a row of four classics - All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible & A View From A Bridge – between 1947 and 1955. We’ve seen a lot of these four since, but not Broken Glass. The National hosted the UK premiere, but again it’s a fringe venue – the Tricycle – that gives us a second look. Set in 1938 in New York, Sylvia Gellburg is mysteriously paralysed. The initial diagnosis is hysterical paralysis, a reaction to events in Nazi Germany, but as the play unfolds the relationship with, and behaviour of, her husband comes into the frame. She abandoned her business career, her sex life is unfulfilled, her husband possesses her. Phillip Gellburg is one of the most complex characters Miller wrote – proud to be ‘the only Jew’ in his company with his son heading to be ‘the only Jew’ army General in a way that is distancing himself, even denying, his heritage. At the same time, he sees anti-Semitism when it might not even be there and is racked with feelings of inadequacy, persecution and inferiority complexes and paranoia. Anthony Sher is mesmerizing, he IS Phillip Gellburg, and as the play unfolds his character becomes more exposed and develops emotional depth. Sylvia Gellberg is a tough role, changing significantly between the first and second acts. Playing a little older than her age, Lucy Cohu really pulls it off. The third key character, Dr Harry Hyman, who is fascinated by the case and attracted to his patient, sees Nigel Lindsay cast against type and more than a match for Sher and Cohu. These are fine performances indeed. I’m not very familiar with director Iqbal Khan’s work, but I’ll make sure I am in the future, for this is a very intelligent production, deeply moving but without descending into sentimentality. Mike Britton has designed an impressionistic space which allows the drama to breath and the onstage cello playing of Laura Moody maintains the tension between scenes. This play was followed by two disappointing late works – Mr Peter’s Connections and Resurrection Blues – and a third play, Finishing the Picture, which we haven’t seen here. Looking back now, it is clear that it was the last great work of a giant of theatre and seeing it again was as thrilling as seeing it for the first time. Yet another triumph for the regularly triumphant and completely indispensable Tricycle! - Gareth James
