A comedy about a doctor, Dr. Givings, treating two patients with hysteria with the help of a new invention, an electric vibrator that provides a therapeutic massage and causes a release in the patient. The invention, and its apparent success, becomes very interesting to the doctor’s wife, Mrs. Givings, who becomes friends with the patients in order to learn more about it. Her curiosity brings about many complications, which creates the basis for the comedy of the play.
Here is a selection of clips from a production of In the Next Room or the vibrator play at
South Coast Repertory which shows some of the play's more comedic events:
About the Author:
Author: Sarah Ruhl (nytimes.com)
Sarah Ruhl is an American playwright and recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, the Susan Smith Blackburn Award, Helen Hays Award, Kennedy Center’s Fourth Freedom Forum Playwriting Award, as well as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her plays include, The Clean House, In The Next Room or the vibrator play, Orlando, Demeter in the City, Passion Play, Eurydice; Melancholy Play; Late: a cowboy song and Dead Man’s Cell Phone. She was born in 1974 in Wilmette Illinois and now lives in New York with her husband, Tony Charuvastra, and daughter, Anna. Ruhl began studying playwriting at Brown. Her first class on the subject was taught by Paula Vogel who says her first impression of Ruhl as a young college student was that she was, “quiet and serious, but so obviously possessed a mind that came at aesthetics from a unique angle” (Vogel 1). Vogel first noticed Ruhl’s genius when the advanced playwriting class was given an assignment that asked them to create a play with a dog as the protagonist. With this prompt, “Ruhl wrote of her father’s death from that unique angle: a dog is waiting by the door, waiting for the family to come home, unaware that the family is at his master’s funeral, unaware of the concept of death” (Vogel 1). After reading this short play, Vogel knew that this young student was destined for greatness.
Quotes about Sarah Ruhl:
“Ruhl is one of the country’s brightest playwrights” –Charles Iserwood, New York Times
Her style of writing, “coaxes the spectators to swim in the magical, sometimes menacing flow of the unconscious.” –Dan Bacalzo, Theater Mania
Inspiration forIn The Next Room or the vibrator play:
Sarah Ruhl was inspired by several texts including, The Technology of Orgasm by Rachel P. Maines, AC/DC: The Savage Tale of the First Standards War, and A Social History of Wet Nursing in America. As an introduction to the play she writes, “Things that seem impossibly strange in the following play are all true, such as the Chattanooga vibrator, and the vagaries of wet nursing. Things that seem commonplace are all my own invention” (Ruhl 6).
Awards and Nominations:
Glickman Prize
2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist
2010 Tony Award nominations:
Best Play
Best Featured Actress in a Play – Maria Dizzia
Best Costume Design of a Play – David Zinn
Critical Reviews:
“Best Broadway play of 2009… Ruhl has defined gender and genre orthodoxy to give us a hilarious and moving meditation on the many factors that complicate communication between (and within) the sexes.” –Elysa Gardner, USA Today
“A fascinating, funny and evocative play. . . . Ruhl develops the story with the enticing blend of irreverent humor and skewed realism. . . . It’s beautiful.” –San Francisco Chronicle
“[This] breathtakingly inventive addition to Ruhl’s singular body of work . . . has the potential to be a modern masterpiece.”–Los Angeles Times “Ruhl has written a smart, charming, iridescently funny-serious jewel.” –Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times
“It’s safe to say that In the Next Room goes where no Broadway show has gone before. Ruhl presents something a lot more daring than nudity: women’s discovery of their own bodies and their own pleasure… a play that’s smart, delicate, and very, very funny.” –Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Post
Setting:
The time period is right when the world was first introduced and getting excited about electricity. It is also at a time after the civil war. As Ruhl notes, “a play hovering at the dawn of electricity” (Ruhl 5). The play is set in “a prosperous spa town outside of New York City”, probably somewhere like Saratoga Springs.
A Picture of the Broadway Premiere displaying the "operating theater" (left) and the living room (right) (http://broadwayworld.com)
Staging:
The set is divided between two rooms, a living room and a doctor's office “operating theater” (Ruhl 4). Action happens simultaneously in both rooms.
Characters:
Dr. Givings: A man in his 40’s who is a specialist in genealogical and hysterical disorders. He is fascinated by the marvels of technology and what they can do for his patients.
Catherine Givings: The Doctor’s wife, a woman in her late 20’s. She is only a bystander in her husband's world - listening at the door from the next room as he treats his female patients”.
Sabrina Daldry: a patient with hysteria, a woman in her early 30’s
Dick Daldry: Sabrina Daldry’s husband, a man in his 40’s or 50’s
Elizabeth: an African American woman in her early 30’s, “a wet nurse by default” (Ruhl 5).
Leo Irving: A well traveled and artistic Englishman in his 20’s or 30’s, another patient of the Dr.
Production History:
First premiered at Berkley Repertory Theatre in February of 2009 in Berkely, CA.
A photo of the play's premiere at Berkley Repertory Theatre with Stacy Ross, Maria Dizzia and Paul Niebanck (Broadwayworld.com)
In the Next Room or the vibrator play opened on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre on November 19, 2009.
Original Cast:
Dr. Givings---------------------------------------------------------Paul Niebanck
Leo Irving-------------------------------------------------------- Joaquin Torres
Director: Les Walters
Scene Design: Annie Smart
Costume Design: David Zinn
Lighting Design: Russell H. Champa
Sound Design: Bray Poor
Composer: Jonathan Bell
Production Stage Manager: Michael Suenkel
Another picture from the Broadway Premier featuring Michael Cerveris and Laura Benanti (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?st...=120463597)
Broadway Premier:
Director: Les Walters Scene Design: Annie Smart Costume Design: David Zinn Lighting Design: Russell H. Champa Sound Design: Bray Poor Composer: Jonathan Bell Stage Manager: Roy Harris
Broadway Cast:
Dr. Givings------------------------------------------------------------------------Michael Cerveris
Leo Irving-------------------------------------------------------------------------Chandler Williams
Important Props/Set pieces:
Electromechanical vibrators (Pictures from vibratormuseum.org)
These items were “first used in medicine in 1878 and were available as a consumer product by 1900. The vibrator was the 5th home appliance to be electrified. It was preceded by the sewing machine, fan, teakettle, and the toaster” (vibratormuseum.org). This play demonstrates how electrical vibrators were first used for medical purposes, mainly concerning female hysteria, “a Victorian Age diagnosis given to women who found themselves straying outside of the happy, docile domestic role they were expected to play” (Malone 1).
Early electric lamps, “One particularly beautiful one with green glass” (Ruhl 5). Ruhl suggests “rather than the usual lighting instruments, something ancient” can be used, to help the audience feel like they really are in the dawn of electricity (Ruhl 5).
A piano: The original music of Jonathan Bell was used for creating the sound of the performance at the Lincoln center production, and Ruhl recommends for future performances that instead of pre recorded music, the use of the piano on its own will create the best sound for setting the intended tone of the piece (Ruhl 5).
Important concepts:
Hysteria: Hysteria was a real diagnosis, and it was quite commonly given to women in the Victorian age.“Women's sexual pleasure was the furthest thing from the minds of the male doctors who invented vibrators almost two centuries ago. They were interested in a labor-saving device to spare their hands the fatigue they developed giving hand jobs to a steady stream of 19th century ladies who suffered from “hysteria,” a vaguely defined ailment easily recognizable today as sexual frustration” (Castleman 1). This diagnosis and the way in which it was handled at the time is clearly demonstrated by Dr. Givings as he explains what he will be doing to his patient Mrs. Daldry: "We are going to produce in you what is called a paroxysm. The congestion in your womb is causing your hysterical symptoms and if we can release some of that congestion and invite the juice downward your health will be restored… Thanks to the dawn of electricity… I have a new instrument I will use. It used be that it would to take hours to produce a paroxysm in our patients and it demanded quite a lot of skill and patience… but thanks to this new electrical instrument we shall be done in a matter of minutes” (Ruhl 19).
Sexual Pleasure:
The play reminds the reader that Victorian men did not believe it was necessary for women to enjoy sex. In fact, “Until the 20th century, American and European men—including physicians—believed that women did not experience sexual desire or pleasure” (Castleman 1). Instead, to put it bluntly, they saw women as “fleshy receptacles for male lust” and believed that “male ejaculation fulfilled women's erotic needs” (Castleman 2). Also, women were brought up to believe that they should have no sex drive, and that sex was just something they had to put up with to “keep their husbands happy and [produce] children” (Castleman 2). Mr. Daldry expresses the male perception of sex during this the era very clearly. Speaking of his wife, he implies they have not been intimate in a while by saying, “There is very little sympathy between us” (Ruhl 12). Then when his wife assumes another meaning, he clarifies his statement by saying, “No, her fingers do not work. In the living room. Or in any other room, if you take my meaning, Dr. Givings” (Ruhl 12), implying that she has not been able to satisfy him sexually. It is obvious that he does not take his wife’s sexual gratification into account, because if he did, she wouldn't have been diagnosed with hysteria in the first place.
Works Cited
Bacalzo, Dan. "Death Becomes Her - Theater News - May 30, 2007." TheaterMania.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2013.
Castleman, Michael. ""Hysteria" and the Strange History of Vibrators."Psychology Today. N.p., 1 Mar. 2013. Web. 4 May 2013. "Electric Vibrators." Electric Vibrators. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2013.
"Lincoln Center Theater : In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play." Lincoln Center Theater : In.the Next Room or the Vibrator Play. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2013.
Malone, James. "Sex and Intimacy "In the Next Room""Dane 101. N.p., 9 Nov. 2010. Web. 3 May 2013.
Ruhl, Sarah. In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2010. Print.
Vogel, Paula. "BOMB Magazine: Sarah Ruhl by Paula Vogel." Atom. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2013.
In the Next Room or the vibrator play by Sarah Ruhl
Table of Contents
Plot:
A comedy about a doctor, Dr. Givings, treating two patients with hysteria with the help of a new invention, an electric vibrator that provides a therapeutic massage and causes a release in the patient. The invention, and its apparent success, becomes very interesting to the doctor’s wife, Mrs. Givings, who becomes friends with the patients in order to learn more about it. Her curiosity brings about many complications, which creates the basis for the comedy of the play.Here is a selection of clips from a production of
In the Next Room or the vibrator play at
South Coast Repertory which shows some of the play's more comedic events:
About the Author:
Sarah Ruhl is an American playwright and recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, the Susan Smith Blackburn Award, Helen Hays Award, Kennedy Center’s Fourth Freedom Forum Playwriting Award, as well as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her plays include, The Clean House, In The Next Room or the vibrator play, Orlando, Demeter in the City, Passion Play, Eurydice; Melancholy Play; Late: a cowboy song and Dead Man’s Cell Phone.
She was born in 1974 in Wilmette Illinois and now lives in New York with her husband, Tony Charuvastra, and daughter, Anna. Ruhl began studying playwriting at Brown. Her first class on the subject was taught by Paula Vogel who says her first impression of Ruhl as a young college student was that she was, “quiet and serious, but so obviously possessed a mind that came at aesthetics from a unique angle” (Vogel 1). Vogel first noticed Ruhl’s genius when the advanced playwriting class was given an assignment that asked them to create a play with a dog as the protagonist. With this prompt, “Ruhl wrote of her father’s death from that unique angle: a dog is waiting by the door, waiting for the family to come home, unaware that the family is at his master’s funeral, unaware of the concept of death” (Vogel 1). After reading this short play, Vogel knew that this young student was destined for greatness.
Quotes about Sarah Ruhl:
“Ruhl is one of the country’s brightest playwrights”
–Charles Iserwood, New York Times
Her style of writing, “coaxes the spectators to swim in the magical, sometimes menacing flow of the unconscious.”
–Dan Bacalzo, Theater Mania
Inspiration for In The Next Room or the vibrator play:
Sarah Ruhl was inspired by several texts including, The Technology of Orgasm by Rachel P. Maines, AC/DC: The Savage Tale of the First Standards War, and A Social History of Wet Nursing in America. As an introduction to the play she writes, “Things that seem impossibly strange in the following play are all true, such as the Chattanooga vibrator, and the vagaries of wet nursing. Things that seem commonplace are all my own invention” (Ruhl 6).
Awards and Nominations:
Critical Reviews:
“Best Broadway play of 2009… Ruhl has defined gender and genre orthodoxy to give us a hilarious and moving meditation on the many factors that complicate communication between (and within) the sexes.” –Elysa Gardner, USA Today“A fascinating, funny and evocative play. . . . Ruhl develops the story with the enticing blend of irreverent humor and skewed realism. . . . It’s beautiful.” –San Francisco Chronicle
“[This] breathtakingly inventive addition to Ruhl’s singular body of work . . . has the potential to be a modern masterpiece.”–Los Angeles Times
“Ruhl has written a smart, charming, iridescently funny-serious jewel.” –Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times
“It’s safe to say that In the Next Room goes where no Broadway show has gone before. Ruhl presents something a lot more daring than nudity: women’s discovery of their own bodies and their own pleasure… a play that’s smart, delicate, and very, very funny.” –Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Post
Setting:
The time period is right when the world was first introduced and getting excited about electricity. It is also at a time after the civil war. As Ruhl notes, “a play hovering at the dawn of electricity” (Ruhl 5). The play is set in “a prosperous spa town outside of New York City”, probably somewhere like Saratoga Springs.Staging:
The set is divided between two rooms, a living room and a doctor's office “operating theater” (Ruhl 4). Action happens simultaneously in both rooms.Characters:
Dr. Givings: A man in his 40’s who is a specialist in genealogical and hysterical disorders. He is fascinated by the marvels of technology and what they can do for his patients.
Catherine Givings: The Doctor’s wife, a woman in her late 20’s. She is only a bystander in her husband's world - listening at the door from the next room as he treats his female patients”.
Sabrina Daldry: a patient with hysteria, a woman in her early 30’s
Dick Daldry: Sabrina Daldry’s husband, a man in his 40’s or 50’s
Elizabeth: an African American woman in her early 30’s, “a wet nurse by default” (Ruhl 5).
Leo Irving: A well traveled and artistic Englishman in his 20’s or 30’s, another patient of the Dr.
Production History:
First premiered at Berkley Repertory Theatre in February of 2009 in Berkely, CA.
In the Next Room or the vibrator play opened on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre on November 19, 2009.
Original Cast:
Dr. Givings---------------------------------------------------------Paul Niebanck
Catherine Givings--------------------------------------------------Hannah Cabell
Sabrina Daldry------------------------------------------------------Maria Dizzia
Mr. Daldry-------------------------------------------------John Leonard Thompson
Elizabeth-----------------------------------------------------------Melle Powers
Leo Irving-------------------------------------------------------- Joaquin Torres
Director: Les Walters
Scene Design: Annie Smart
Costume Design: David Zinn
Lighting Design: Russell H. Champa
Sound Design: Bray Poor
Composer: Jonathan Bell
Production Stage Manager: Michael Suenkel
Broadway Premier:
Director: Les Walters
Scene Design: Annie Smart
Costume Design: David Zinn
Lighting Design: Russell H. Champa
Sound Design: Bray Poor
Composer: Jonathan Bell
Stage Manager: Roy Harris
Broadway Cast:
Dr. Givings------------------------------------------------------------------------Michael Cerveris
Catherine Givings-------------------------------------------------------------------Laura Benanti
Sabrina Daldry----------------------------------------------------------------------Maria Dizzia
Mr. Daldry------------------------------------------------------------------------Thomas Jay Ryan
Elizabeth------------------------------------------------------------------------Quincy Tyler Bernstine
Leo Irving-------------------------------------------------------------------------Chandler WilliamsImportant Props/Set pieces:
These items were “first used in medicine in 1878 and were available as a consumer product by 1900. The vibrator was the 5th home appliance to be electrified. It was preceded by the sewing machine, fan, teakettle, and the toaster” (vibratormuseum.org). This play demonstrates how electrical vibrators were first used for medical purposes, mainly concerning female hysteria, “a Victorian Age diagnosis given to women who found themselves straying outside of the happy, docile domestic role they were expected to play” (Malone 1).
Important concepts:
Hysteria:
Hysteria was a real diagnosis, and it was quite commonly given to women in the Victorian age.“Women's sexual pleasure was the furthest thing from the minds of the male doctors who invented vibrators almost two centuries ago. They were interested in a labor-saving device to spare their hands the fatigue they developed giving hand jobs to a steady stream of 19th century ladies who suffered from “hysteria,” a vaguely defined ailment easily recognizable today as sexual frustration” (Castleman 1). This diagnosis and the way in which it was handled at the time is clearly demonstrated by Dr. Givings as he explains what he will be doing to his patient Mrs. Daldry:
"We are going to produce in you what is called a paroxysm. The congestion in your womb is causing your hysterical symptoms and if we can release some of that congestion and invite the juice downward your health will be restored… Thanks to the dawn of electricity… I have a new instrument I will use. It used be that it would to take hours to produce a paroxysm in our patients and it demanded quite a lot of skill and patience… but thanks to this new electrical instrument we shall be done in a matter of minutes” (Ruhl 19).
Sexual Pleasure:
The play reminds the reader that Victorian men did not believe it was necessary for women to enjoy sex. In fact, “Until the 20th century, American and European men—including physicians—believed that women did not
experience sexual desire or pleasure” (Castleman 1). Instead, to put it bluntly, they saw women as “fleshy receptacles for male lust” and believed that “male ejaculation fulfilled women's erotic needs” (Castleman 2). Also,
women were brought up to believe that they should have no sex drive, and that sex was just something they had to put up with to “keep their husbands happy and [produce] children” (Castleman 2). Mr. Daldry expresses the male perception of sex during this the era very clearly. Speaking of his wife, he implies they have not been intimate in a while by saying, “There is very little sympathy between us” (Ruhl 12). Then when his wife assumes another meaning, he clarifies his statement by saying, “No, her fingers do not work. In the living room. Or in any other room, if you take my meaning, Dr. Givings” (Ruhl 12), implying that she has not been able to satisfy him sexually. It is obvious that he does not take his wife’s sexual gratification into account, because if he did, she wouldn't have been diagnosed with hysteria in the first place.
Works Cited
Bacalzo, Dan. "Death Becomes Her - Theater News - May 30, 2007." TheaterMania.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2013.
Castleman, Michael. ""Hysteria" and the Strange History of Vibrators." Psychology Today. N.p., 1 Mar. 2013. Web. 4 May 2013.
"Electric Vibrators." Electric Vibrators. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2013.
"Lincoln Center Theater : In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play." Lincoln Center Theater : In.the Next Room or the Vibrator Play. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2013.
Malone, James. "Sex and Intimacy "In the Next Room"" Dane 101. N.p., 9 Nov. 2010. Web. 3 May 2013.
Ruhl, Sarah. In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2010. Print.
Vogel, Paula. "BOMB Magazine: Sarah Ruhl by Paula Vogel." Atom. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2013.