In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play)
Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony award for best play, In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play) is a comedy about marriage, intimacy, and electricity, brought to you this June by Reduxion Theatre.
Set in the 1880s at the dawn of the age of electricity, the play centers on a doctor and his wife and how a new therapy he develops affects their entire household. In a seemingly perfect, well-to-do Victorian home, proper gentleman and scientist Dr. Givings has innocently invented an extraordinary new device for treating "hysteria" in women (and occasionally men) - the vibrator.
Adjacent to the doctor's laboratory, his young and energetic wife tries to tend to their newborn daughter, and wonders exactly what is going on in the next room.
When a new "hysterical" patient and her husband bring a wet nurse and their own complicated relationship into the doctor's home, Dr. and Mrs. Givings must examine the nature of their own marriage, and what it truly means to love someone.
This laugh out loud, provocative and touching play premiered at Berkeley Rep and subsequently marked Sarah Ruhl's Broadway debut, opening at the Lyceum Theatre in November 2009. You do not want to miss the Oklahoma City premiere.
"Insightful, fresh and funny, the play is as rich in thought as it is in feeling...one of the most gifted and adventurous American playwrights to emerge in recent years...In the Next Room is a true novelty: a sex comedy designed not for sniggering teenage boys - or grown men who wish they were still sniggering teenage boys - but for adults with open hearts and minds." - The New York Times.
"A play that's smart, delicate and very, very funny!" - New York Post.
"Sarah Ruhl, whose previous work I execrated, has written a smart, charming, iridescently funny-serious jewel...As Ruhl traces it with wit and insight, and without the slightest prurience, the birth of this new era gives rise to colorful events, astute psychological revelations and endearingly apt dialogue." - Bloomberg.
Ruhl herself explains, "One physician quoted in the book [The Technology of the Orgasm] argued that at least three-fourths of women had ailments that could be cured by the vibrator. Which is kind of stunning. The economy for vibrators, even then, was vast; I mean, it was a million-dollar enterprise.”
"The playwright mines her subject for suitably bawdy humor without resorting to vulgarity. But what really gives the work its distinction is its sensitive exploration of the physical and emotional repression suffered by the women of the era, which has yet to disappear entirely.... The play beautifully balances its humor and pathos." - Hollywood Reporter.
“Our out-of-the “box” mid-season replacement for Two Gentlemen of Verona will have you laughing and cheering and deliciously squirming for more! Come and take this very unique journey with us,” says Reduxion Theatre.
This production is intended for mature audiences and is rated “R” for adult themes of sexuality and nudity.
The OKC Cast includes Keegan Zimmerman as Dr. Givings, Lia Oldham as Catherine Givings, Jennifer Farley as Sabrina Daldry, David Pasto as Dick Daldry, Mariah Warren as Elizabeth, Chase Bradshaw as Leo Irving and Rodonna Carter as Annie.
The play is directed by Tonia Sina and will be performed June 3 - 25 at the Civic Center Music Hall, CitySpace Theatre. For tickets, call (405) 297-2264 or visit www.MyTicketOffice.com.
Copyright The Gayly – June 2, 2016 @ 8:20 a.m.