May 3 - May 20, 2012

In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play

by Sarah Ruhl

This charming and irreverent comedy of manners, set against the backdrop of the Victorian medical practice of using vibrators to cure women of hysteria, explores the nature of intimacy in married life. Catherine Givings is frustrated with her husband Dr. Givings. They love one another, but the good doctor is unable to express his love in any way that is meaningful to his wife. When Catherine learns long-kept secrets of the details of her husband’s practice; and when Elizabeth, their baby’s wet nurse, explains that husbands are capable of creating the same “paroxysms” achieved by the doctor’s equipment, she sets out on a mission to revitalize her marriage, even within the confines of staunch Victorian prudence. With great respect for the modesty of its characters and audience, this charming, hilarious, and ultimately deeply moving play will surely be one of the most talked about in the season.