Podcasts

WOS Radio: Fitzgerald & Townsend Discuss Broken Glass

Editorial Staff
London's West End

Last night (27 September 2011) over 120 Whatsonstage.com theatregoers converged on the Vaudeville Theatre for Broken Glass, which has transferred to the West End following a critically acclaimed sell-out run at the Tricycle in 2010.

Anthony
Sher reprises his role as Philip Gellburg while Tara Fitzgerald
takes over from Lucy Cohu as wife Sylvia. Fitzgerald and fellow new cast
member Stanley Townsend joined us following the show for a fascinating Q&A about the play’s difficult themes and this production in particular.

Broken Glass, which
received its British Premiere in 1994 at the National Theatre before
transferring to the West End and winning an Olivier Award for Best Play,
tells the story of Philip and Sylvia Gellburg, a New York couple
living in Brooklyn in 1938. Philip, obsessed with work and his own
desire to assimilate, has little time for his wife, but when Sylvia
suddenly becomes paralysed after reading newspaper reports of
Kristallnacht in Germany, Dr. Harry Hyman (played by Townsend) is called
in. As
he gets closer to the source of Sylvia’s troubles, a
relationship develops that could have devastating consequences on the
family, and themes of guilt, personal tragedy and love start to unfold.

During
the post-show Q&A, Fitzgerald and Townsend spoke in depth on topics
including how it felt to transfer from the Tricycle to the Vaudeville,
what it’s like to play a character with paralysis and why the script,
one of Miller’s later works, is yet to find popularity in the US.

To listen to an edited recording of the Q&A, which was chaired by Whatsonstage.com deputy editor Theo Bosanquet, click the ‘play’ button below; or to subscribe and download from iTunes, click here.

For more photos and commentary from last night’s event, visit our Outings blog and for further information and booking for upcoming Whatsonstage.com Outings, click here.