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Overview
Synopsis
Phillip and Sylvia Gellburg are a Jewish married couple living in New York in the last days of November 1938. Phillip is obsessed with his job at a Wall Street bank, where he works on foreclosing. Phillip and Sylvia rarely spend quality time together until Sylvia suddenly becomes partially paralyzed from the waist down after reading about the events of Kristallnacht in the newspaper. Is her sudden illness due to her identification with the Jews currently being persecuted by in Hitler's Nazi-run Germany? Or can it be attributed to the withdrawal of physical affection by her husband, Phillip, and his ambivalent attitude to his Jewish identity? Dr. Harry Hyman is called in to help and concludes that Sylvia's paralysis is psychosomatic. Although he is not a psychiatrist, he begins to treat her according to his diagnosis. Throughout the play, Dr. Hyman learns more about the problems that Sylvia is having in her personal life, particularly in her marriage. She and Phillip have not been intimate for over twenty years and there is a wedge between them. Sylvia and Dr. Hyman engage in an intimate friendship as he tries to get to the bottom of her fears. After a confrontation with his boss, Phillip suffers a serious heart attack. While he is dying, he and Sylvia finally confront each other about their feelings. Upon Phillip’s death, Sylvia is cured of her paralysis.
Show Information
- Book
- Arthur Miller
- Category
- Play
- Age Guidance
- Thirteen Plus (PG-13)
- Number of Acts
- 1
- First Produced
- 1994
- Genres
- Drama
- Settings
- Period, Multiple Settings
- Time & Place
- Brooklyn, New York City, 1938
- Cast Size
- small
- Licensor
- Dramatists Play Service
- Ideal For
- Professional Theatre, Regional Theatre, Small Cast, Includes Adult, Mature Adult Characters
Context
Broken Glass premiered in New Haven, Connecticut at the Long Wharf Theatre in June 1994. It then opened on Broadway’s Booth Theatre in April of the same year. Directed by Jon Tillinger, the production closed on June 26 1994 and was nominated for the 1994 Tony Award for Best New Play. The play received its UK premiere in August of the same year at the Lyttelton Theatre. It received the 1995 Laurence Olivier Awards for Best New Play and Best Supporting Actor (Ken Stott).
In 2010, _Broken
to read the context for Broken Glass and to unlock other amazing theatre resources!Plot
A lone cellist plays in a spotlight. As her tune finishes, the lights rise on the office of Dr. Harry Hyman. Phillip Gellburg waits for him and his silence is interrupted by the arrival of Dr. Hyman’s wife, Margaret. Although she now carries pruning shears, she is also her husband’s nurse and she informs Phillip that Harry will be with him soon. Margaret has seen Phillip around the neighborhood, although they have never met, and she annoys him by continually mistakenly calling him ‘Goldberg’
to read the plot for Broken Glass and to unlock other amazing theatre resources!Characters
| Name | Part Size | Gender | Vocal Part |
|---|---|---|---|
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Lead |
Female |
Non-singer |
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Lead |
Male |
Non-singer |
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Lead |
Male |
Non-singer |
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Supporting |
Female |
Non-singer |
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Supporting |
Female |
Non-singer |
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Supporting |
Male |
Non-singer |
Songs
A song with an asterisk (*) before the title indicates a dance number; a character listed in a song with an asterisk (*) by the character's name indicates that the character exclusively serves as a dancer in this song, which is sung by other characters.
Monologues
Scenes
Key Terms
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Videos
Quizzes
Themes, Symbols & Motifs
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Quote Analysis
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Guide Written By:
Alexandra Appleton
Writer, editor and theatre researcher