The Acadia Theatre Company Presents

In The Next Room by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Ken Schwartz.

 

Set in the 1880s at the dawn of the age of electricity 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 Catherine tries to tend to their newborn daughter-and wonders exactly what is going on in the next room. When a new "hysterical" patient, Sabrina, 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.

 

In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) is a 2009 play by Sarah Ruhl,.

It concerns the early history of the vibrator, when doctors allegedly 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.^[1]

The play was nominated for three 2010 Tony Awards.

 

 

Tickets $20 at the Acadia Box Office 902-542-5500 or at the door.

Lower Denton Theatre,  March 29-April 1, 2023 at 8:00pm

*Audience members must wear a mask.