However, Dr Hyman also uncovers dysfunction in the physical side of the Gellburgs’ marriage which has been going on for twenty years and finds himself attracted to the beautiful Sylvia. Although Dr Hyman is not a psychiatrist, he believes that Sylvia’s paralysis may have a psychological cause. We meet Margaret Hyman (Nancy Carroll) her husband’s secretary/receptionist and wife who informs us of his past fidelities.  There is an explicit scene where Margaret and Harry Hyman pleasure each other.

Director Jordan Fein has used a thrust stage which serves as the Gellburg’s bedroom and the doctor’s waiting room. There are no awkward moments changing scene and all the cast sit at the edges next to the many tied up piles of newspaper, a reminder of what has been upsetting Sylvia as she read about Hitler’s Germany.  The set has incongruities: a water cooler, the world clocks and a copy of the pink Financial Times. Adam Silverman has used dramatic lighting to emphasise shifts in the play and the discordant Gellburg marriage.

The deeply nasal Brooklyn accents are not easy for those of the British cast. Eli Gelb is the solid, tightly controlled husband in denial about his Jewishness and his erectile dysfunction.  He contrasts with Harry Hyman’s intelligent, empathetic, but womanising American doctor whom Sylvia is falling for.  She resists any idea to change doctors.