Broken Glass

Synopsis

Antony Sher reprises his acclaimed performance as Phillip Gellburg, a Jewish man in New York City in 1938, whose wife Sylvia (Tara Fitzgerald) is so affected by Kristallnacht (night of the broken glass) in Nazi Germany that she becomes temporarily paralysed in Arthur Miller's Broken Glass. 

In Broken Glass, Phillip, obsessed with work and his own desire to assimilate, has little time for his wife, but when Sylvia suddenly becomes paralysed, Dr. Harry Hyman is called in. As he gets closer to the source of Sylvia’s affliction, a relationship develops that could have devastating consequences on the family, and themes of guilt, personal tragedy and love start to unfold.

Broken Glass premiered at the National Theatre in 1994, before transferring to the West End and winning the Olivier for Best Play. His screenplays include his adaptation of The Crucible and The Misfits. Other principal works include Death of a Salesman, A View from the Bridge, All My Sons, After the Fall, The Crucible and The Price.

Prior to the previous run of Broken Glass at the Tricycle Theatre, Antony Sher was on stage in An Enemy of the People at the Crucible, Sheffield. His numerous other stage credits include for the RSC; The Tempest, Othello and Richard III - for which he won the Olivier and Evening Standard Awards, Kean (Apollo Theatre), Primo, which he also wrote (National Theatre and Music Box Theater, New York, and for which he won the Outer Critics’ Circle and Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Solo Performance, I.D. - which he also wrote (Almeida), Stanley (National Theatre and Circle in the Square Theater, New York - for which he won the Olivier and Tony Awards for Best Actor and finally Torch Song Trilogy (Albery)  for which he also won the Olivier Award.  His screen credits include God on Trial, Primo, The Company, Home, The Jury, Macbeth, Churchill: The Hollywood Years, Shakespeare in Love, Mrs Brown, Alive and Kicking, The Wind in the Willows and The Young Poisoner’s Handbook.

Last seen in the West End in The Misanthrope (Comedy Theatre) Tara Fitzgerald's other stage credits include And Then There Were None (Gielgud), A Doll’s House (Donmar), Hamlet (Almeida) and Our Song (Apollo).  Her television credits include the regular part of Dr Eve Lockhart in Waking The Dead, for which she has been given a spin off series: The Body Farm, The Virgin Queen, Frenchman’s Creek and The Camomile Lawn. Her film credits include Dark Blue World, Brassed Off, A Man Of No Importance, Sirens and Hear My Song.

Book your Broken Glass tickets today for one of the must see plays this autumn!

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 19 September 2011

Arthur Miller’s 1994 play, which I wasn’t mad about at its National Theatre premiere, seems different to me now, its overloaded hysteria somehow channelled in Iqbal Khan’s production (first seen at the Tricycle, Kilburn, last year) to much better effect.

This is down to Antony Sher, whose manic performance as Phillip Gellburg (not “Goldberg” he keeps saying), the Brooklyn mortgage broker who’s messed up his job, and his marriage, is perfectly suited to the clodhopping hysteria of Miller’s theatrical thesis.

Which is, that, in 1938, Gellburg’s wife, Sylvia – beautifully and carefully played by Tara Fitzgerald – was rendered psychosomatically paralysed by reading about the Kristallnacht anti-Jewish riots in Vienna. And nobody’s doing anything about Hitler.

You can see Miller’s point: I feel ill every night just watching the news on TV. But there’s more. Gellburg – who...

Read more of the review

Latest User Review

coral - 29 September 2011:

Superb performances from T.F and Sher and Townsend ( who was surprisingly restrained.) Thank God for 'technical'. The cellist was far FAR too loud....

Read more and add your own review

Related Whatsonstage.com Articles

WOS Radio: Fitzgerald & Townsend Discuss Broken Glass WOS Theatregoers See Clearly at Glass Q&A 1st Night Photos: Sher Breaks Glass in West End Review Round-up: Broken Glass Moves to Vaudeville Another Day, Another New Play Karamazov Brothers Fly Out of Vaudeville, 20 Aug Cast: Asher in Kingston, Full Glass & Nunn's Tempest More»