Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Review: In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play)

Laura Benanti. Photo: Joan Marcus
(Dear Gentle Reader: For those of you among our readership who would consider yourselves rather conservative, I can almost guarantee this play isn’t going to be among your top choices for viewing, and in fact, just reading this review and its description of what takes place might be more than you bargained for, so I’m just giving a little word of warning before your read on. --Lauren Yarger )


Or, How Many Orgasms Can We Witness on Stage?
By Lauren Yarger
Playwright Sarah Ruhl’s first offering on Broadway by Lincoln Center Theater is a sexually charged, almost-farce about an 1880s doctor who treats women suffering from hysteria with a new electronic vibrating device.

Dr. Givings (Michael Cerveris), appropriately named, it would seem, uses his vibrator on uptight patient Mrs. Daldry (Maria Dizzia), brought to him by concerned Mr. Daldry (Thomas Jay Ryan) to relieve the “congestion of fluid” that has built up in her womb and which is causing her difficulties like sensitivity to light.

With the help of his nurse, Annie (Wendy Rich Stetson), Givings administers daily treatments to Daldry’s private area to cause “paroxysms,” or releases of the tension, all while making small talk and totally unaware that the treatment has a sexual nature to it. Mrs. Daldry responds to the treatment, especially when Annie administers it.

Meanwhile, Givings’ wife, Catherine (Laura Benanti), is the most frustrated of all, a human vibrator, if you will, full of life and constantly buzzing with chatter, while restrained by a new baby who refuses to nurse and unable to unlock the secrets of her husband’s treatments which take place behind closed doors in the room next to the parlor of their home.

The very confident, but clueless Givings extends his treatments to patient, Leo Irving (Chandler Williams), with a special vibrating device for males that is inserted internally. The treatment releases the artistic talent that had been pent up and he and Mrs. Givings secretly set up sessions for him to paint Elizabeth (Quincy Tyler Bernstein), the Givings’ wet nurse, while she feeds their baby.

More and more frustrated with her inability to nurse her child who is bonding with Elizabeth and with her marriage in general, Catherine discovers the secrets of the large old-fashioned camera-looking wooden box with its attachment in the next room. Soon, she and new friends Mrs. Daldry and Annie are sharing the secret with each other and helping each other obtain “paroxysms.”

Soon Catherine’s desires force a showdown with Givings and when their very marriage is at stake, she administers her own type of sexual therapy to him in the snow (oddly their sexual awakening comes in a frigid setting, but I had long ago stopped expecting anything in this play to make any real sense).

Overall, the play seemed like a challenge to sit and be a voyeur (the treatments and the “paroxysms” occur on stage in full view of the audience) more than a thoughtful or well constructed play about self discovery. I got the feeling Ruhl just wanted to see how many times she could put an orgasm on stage and get away with calling it a play. A subplot about Elizabeth’s lost child and a long soliloquy by her toward the end of the piece seem out of place and play more like a last-minute attempt to put some depth in an other-wise weak play.

Now before you check me off as some sort of prude, there are some elements of the production that deserve praise even though it didn’t excite me (sorry, pun intended…) personally:
• there are a few funny lines
• Benanti, directed by Les Waters, is superb as the rattling-on and repressed wife
• David Zinn’s late 19th-century costumes are lovely
• Annie Smart’s set, especially the change form Victorian residence to winter wonderland is amazing.

The good doesn’t outweigh a rather ridiculous and "too-much-information" plot on this production, however, and it left me far from satisfied.

In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play) runs at the Lyceum Theatre, 149 West 45th St.,NYC through Jan. 10. Amusingly, discounted tickets that will benefit Masterwork Productions are available by clicking here.

Christians might also like to know:
• The show posts a Mature rating
• The patients undress to their undergarments, lie on the examination table and are covered with sheets (some times), and the vibrator is applied.
• In one scene the nurse manually stimulates Mrs. Daldry.
• Sexual dialogue
• Homosexual activity
• Full male nudity
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Our reviews are professional reviews written without a religious bias. At the end of them, you can find a listing of language, content or theological issues that Christians might want to know about when deciding which shows to see.

** Mature indicates that the show has posted an advisory because of content. Usually this means I would recommend no one under the age of 16 attend.

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

My Bio

Lauren Yarger has written, directed and produced numerous shows and special events for both secular and Christian audiences. She co-wrote a Christian musical version of “A Christmas Carol” which played to sold-out audiences of over 3,000 in Vermont and was awarded the Vermont Bessie (theater and film awards) for “People’s Choice for Theatre.” She also has written two other dinner theaters, sketches for church services and devotions for Christian artists. Her play concept, "From Reel to Real: The Jennifer O'Neill Story" was presented as part of the League of professional Theatre Women's Julia's reading Room Series in New York. Shifting from reviewing to producing, Yarger owns Gracewell Productions, which produced the Table Reading Series at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, CT. She trained for three years in the Broadway League’s Producer Development Program, completed the Commercial Theater Institute's Producing Intensive and other training and produced a one-woman musical about Mary Magdalene that toured nationally and closed with an off-Broadway run. She was a Fellow at the National Critics Institute at the O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. She wrote reviews of Broadway and Off-Broadway theater (the only ones you can find in the US with an added Christian perspective) at http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/.

She is editor of The Connecticut Arts Connection (http://ctarts.blogspot.com), an award-winning website featuring theater and arts news for the state. She was a contributing editor for BroadwayWorld.com. She previously served as theater reviewer for the Manchester Journal-Inquirer, Connecticut theater editor for CurtainUp.com and as Connecticut and New York reviewer for American Theater Web.

She is a Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter of the League of Professional Theatre Women. She is a former vice president and voting member of The Drama Desk.

She is a freelance writer and playwright (member Dramatists Guild of America). She is a member if the The Outer Critics Circle (producer of the annual awards ceremony) and a member of The League of Professional Theatre Women, serving as Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter. Yarger was a book reviewer for Publishers Weekly A former newspaper editor and graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Yarger also worked in arts management for the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and served for nine years as the Executive Director of Masterwork Productions, Inc. She lives with her husband in West Granby, CT. They have two adult children.

Copyright

All material is copyright 2008- 2024 by Lauren Yarger. Reviews and articles may not be reprinted without permission. Contact reflectionsinthelight@gmail.com

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Key to Content Notes:

God's name taken in vain -- means God or Jesus is used in dialogue without speaking directly to or about them.

Language -- means some curse words are used. "Minor" usually means the words are not too strong or that it only occurs once or twice throughout the show.

Strong Language -- means some of the more heavy duty curse words are used.

Nudity -- means a man or woman's backside, a man's lower front or a woman's front are revealed.

Scantily clad -- means actors' private areas are technically covered, but I can see a lot of them.

Sexual Language -- means the dialogue contains sexually explicit language but there's no action.

Sexual Activity -- means a man and woman are performing sexual acts.

Adultery -- Means a married man or woman is involved sexually with someone besides their spouse. If this is depicted with sexual acts on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Sex Outside of Marriage -- means a man and woman are involved sexually without being married. If this is depicted sexually on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Homosexuality -- means this is in the show, but not physically depicted.

Homosexual activity -- means two persons of the same sex are embracing/kissing. If they do more than that, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Cross Dresser -- Means someone is dressing as the opposite sex. If they do more than that on stage the listing would include the corresponding "sexual activity" and/or "homosexual activity" as well.

Cross Gender -- A man is playing a female part or a woman is playing a man's part.

Suggestive Dancing -- means dancing contains sexually suggestive moves.

Derogatory (category added Fall 2012) Language or circumstances where women or people of a certain race are referred to or treated in a negative and demeaning manner.

Other content matters such as torture, suicide, or rape will be noted, with details revealed only as necessary in the review itself.

The term "throughout" added to any of the above means it happens many times throughout the show.

Reviewing Policy

I receive free seats to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows made available to all voting members of the Outer Critics Circle. Journalistically, I provide an unbiased review and am under no obligation to make positive statements. Sometimes shows do not make tickets available to reviewers. If these are shows my readers want to know about I will purchase a ticket. If a personal friend is involved in a production, I'll let you know, but it won't influence a review. If I feel there is a conflict, I won't review their portion of the production.

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