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They Say: Broken Glass Roundup

"Antony Sher makes Gellburg fascinatingly complex. He resembles a machine, and his carefully maintained veneer is especially apparent in his hair, which looks as if it has been painted on to his skull. Yet he is uncomfortable in his own skin and ravaged by doubts that are gradually exposed, as anger and self-hatred dissolve his stony exterior... Fitzgerald gives a measured and precise performance, while Stanley Townsend is stunningly good as Hyman - virile and commanding, the sort of man who can wear riding boots indoors without looking ridiculous. As he falls for Sylvia, his passion seems something that cannot be tamed." 

**** (4 Stars) Henry Hitchings for The Evening Standard (read the full review)

"Miller’s combination of the personal and the political seems creaky at times, as does his theory that the wife’s disability is partly caused by her husband’s self-loathing. But, in Iqbal Khan’s fine production, first seen last year at the Tricycle Theatre, the work packs a dramatic and emotional punch. Sher gives a superb performance of crippling anxiety, his body racked with tension, his voice often emerging as a strangulated rasp of confusion and hurt. And the way he crawls to his cruel boss makes one squirm. FitzGerald brings a potent mixture of warmth, sensuality and grief to the sexually neglected wife, and there is a terrific performance from Stanley Townsend as her doctor, his self-assurance and relaxed sexuality making a striking contrast to Sher’s screwed-up diffidence."

**** (4 Stars) Charles Spencer for The Telegraph (read the full review)

"Antony Sher also gives a magnificent performance as Phillip. With his over-deliberate speech, slicked-down hair and neurotically precise movements, he shows us a man who has elevated status above passion and human feeling; yet, when he finally and angrily confronts his patronising estate-agent boss, your hear distinct echoes of Death of a Salesman. Tara Fitzgerald plays Sylvia, and she impeccably suggests a woman for whom marital resentment coalesces with historical awareness. Stanley Townsend is equally fine as the big-hearted doctor, and Caroline Loncq as his breezily tolerant wife sums up one theme of this overwhelmingly moving play when she says of life that 'you draw your cards face down, you turn them over and you do your best with the hand you've got'."

***** (5 Stars) Michael Billington for The Guardian (read the full review)