In The Next Room

Click picture to see larger.

This was an interesting play I got to see last weekend! In the Next Room or the vibrator play is playing at South Coast Repertory through Oct 17th, 2010.

Very first thing, however, I want to apologize to the cast and that day's audience; I assumed the play started at 2:30 pm -- I didn't think to check the tickets -- and so my friend and I arrived 30 minutes late. I am so embarrassed, a thousand apologies to you all. 

In the Next Room -- a Pulitzer Prize finalist and Tony Award nominee -- is set in the Victorian era, just before it's corseted women shed their inhibitions. Dr. Givings (Andrew Borba) is having tremendous success with a new electric invention designed to alleviate the symptoms of "female hysteria". But the noises in the adjoining room spark the curiosity of his wife, Catherine (Kathleen Early), a lonely new mother eager for intimacy. Her investigation into the doctor's work leads to friendships with a couple of patients, the high-strung Sabrina Daldry (Rebecca Mozo) and the artist Leo Irving (Ron Menzel), and ultimately to a new relationship with her husband.

Kathleen Early, Andrew Borba and Rebecca Mozo
in SCR's 2010 production of In the Next Room
 or the vibrator play by Sarah Ruhl. 
Photo by Henry DiRocco/SCR.

While this play has been advertised as a comedy -- and it does have it's wonderfully comic moments -- I found it to be much more of a drama than expected. There is so much more to this play than simply the invention of the vibrator. It is about love and loneliness, friendship between women, marriage   relationships between husband and wife, motherhood and loss of a child. So many of the characters are unhappy, and there is a deep-rooted, visceral tension in most of the characters from these unhappinesses. I found it hard to watch sometimes.

But on the lighter side, all the characters are immensely likable, goofy and endearing in their own ways. And the fun moments are really fun. Watch few scenes from the production below. (Be sure to check out SCR's YouTube page for interviews with the cast and crew also.) 

This play is one of those quietly moving types, giving the actors space to develop and share their character's deepest inner feelings.

SCR's Recommendation: The play is touching, often (and surprisingly) funny and occasionally heart-breaking, and the subject matter is treated with delicacy.  But it’s meant for mature theatre-goers.  There is frontal male nudity, and even though the women aren’t naked, they are clearly being “treated” for their problems.  In the Next Room isn’t for theatre-goers — including adults — who might feel uncomfortable with the play’s theme.

Now Playing at South Coast Repertory

Sept 26 - Oct 17, 2010 

---

Home | IsabelleRobertson.com | Tweet