In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)
| In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Sarah Ruhl |
| Date premiered | February 5, 2009 |
| Place premiered |
Berkeley Repertory Theatre Berkeley, California |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Comedy |
| Setting | A prosperous spa town outside of New York City. The dawn of the age of electricity, and after the Civil War. |
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, breastfeeding, and jealousy. The play was nominated for three 2010 Tony Awards.
In late 19th-century America, 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." 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" - to make naked 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.
In the Director Presentation Les Waters states the play was inspired by The Technology of Orgasm: Hysteria, the Vibrator, and Women’s Sexual Satisfaction by Rachel P. Maines. Ruhl cites Maines's book, AC/DC: The Savage Tale of the First Standards War (Tom McNichol) and A Social History of Wet Nursing in America (Janet Golden) as books she was reading or which influenced her when she wrote the play.
The play was commissioned by the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, which received an Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award towards the production of the play. Les Waters, associate artistic director said, in part: "This award provides us with the rare luxury of an extended rehearsal period for a new play. Sarah has become one of the country's most important writers, and I'm honored that Berkeley Rep has played a vital role in her career."
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