The dual perception of these scales drives Gladys towards a mental breakdown

In Sir Toms Stoppard’s play If You’re Glad I’ll be Frank (Radio 1966), a change of direction is clearly seen. Here the central couple are, in fact, separated, and although they try to meet they are unable to do so. Their relationship is frustrated, it seems, not only within the play itself but also as a result of Stoppard’s decision to sacrifice human relationships to metaphysics. With this play Stoppard abandons his mentors (Enter a Free Man being heavily derivative of Robert Bolt and Arthur Miller) and his real strength as a playwright starts to show through. The theme of individual liberty versus the established order is continued, but takes metaphysical flight as the established order becomes Time itself. Gladys, the speaking clock, reflects on the nature of Time while trapped at her desk metering out ten second intervals She sees through the usual human time-scales into a vertiginously disorientating vision of relativity.
The contrast between two concepts of time is reflected in the two forms of language used by Gladys. In performance her free verse is spoken simultaneously with the rigid repetitive rhythm of the speaking clock. In this way Stoppard makes his point directly on the audience’s perceptions. The dual perception of these scales drives Gladys towards a mental breakdown; we might see her as trapped between excessive order and excessive chaos, She wants to rebel against her role as mediator between the two.