In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) is a play by Sarah Ruhl. It concerns the early history of the vibrator, when doctors used it as a clinical device to bring women to orgasm as treatment for "hysteria." Other themes include Victorian ignorance of female sexual desire, motherhood and breastfeeding, and jealousy.[1] The play was nominated for three 2010 Tony Awards.[2]
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The play premiered at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre on February 5, 2009, under the direction of Les Waters.[3]
Directed again by Waters, the Broadway production (presented by Lincoln Center Theater) began previews at the Lyceum Theatre on October 22, 2009 and officially opened on November 19.[4] The cast included Laura Benanti, Michael Cerveris, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Maria Dizzia, Thomas Jay Ryan, Wendy Rich Stetson, and Chandler Williams.[5] This production was nominated for three Tony Awards (see "Awards and Nominations" section).
In October and November 2010, the play was produced by The Actors Theatre, directed by Matthew Wiener at Herberger Theatre's Stage West in Phoenix, Arizona. The cast stars Francis Jue as Dr. Givings and Angelica Howland as Mrs. Givings.[6][7]
In March–April 2011, the play was produced by the Sydney Theatre Company, directed by Pamela Rabe in the Drama Theate, Sydney Opera House.
In July-August 2011, the play was produced by A Contemporary Theater (ACT) in Seattle, WA, directed by Kurt Beattie.
In September-October 2011, the play was produced by the Theatre Workshop of Nantucket (TWN), directed by Anne Breeding.
In September-October 2011, the play was produced by the Playmaker's Repertory Company in Chapel Hill, NC, directed by Vivienne Benesch.
In late 2011, the play was produced by Plan 9 in Larco Theatre in Lima, Peru, directed by David Carrillo.
Sabrina Daldry and Catherine Givings are sexually frustrated with their husbands, who creep quietly into their beds at night and only use the missionary position, which they endure but do not enjoy. Both are excited to have their first orgasms with the machine. Mrs. Daldry is content to continue having clinical treatments with the machine and suffer lifeless, boring sex with her own husband. "I am afraid there is very little sympathy between us."[8] Catherine Givings wants more. First Mrs. Givings learns from a visiting artist that orgasms detached from love ultimately are unfulfilling and empty, simply surface, without soul, and similar to sex with prostitutes. Then a lower-class wet nurse, Elizabeth, reveals to Catherine that she may be able to enjoy the same sensations from the machine with her husband, with whom she is frustrated because of his clinical detachment, but still ultimately loves. Catherine first inspires jealousy and passion in her husband, then convinces Dr. Givings - who had earlier observed that "what men do not perceive because their intellect prevents them from seeing would fill a book"[1] - to make snow angels with her and discovers the woman on top sex position, allowing her at last sexual satisfaction while the curtain lowers.
The set is divided between two rooms, a parlor and a doctor's office. At the play's climax, the actors step through the imaginary wall dividing the rooms to create the third and final scene, outdoors in the falling snow. Snow is used throughout the play as a symbol of love.
In the Director Presentation Les Waters states the play was inspired by The Technology of Orgasm by Rachel P. Maines.[9] Ruhl cites Maines's book, as well as AC/DC: The Savage Tale of the First Standards War and A Social History of Wet Nursing in America, as books she was reading when she chose to write the play.[10]
The play garnered several 2010 Tony Award nominations:[2]