In the Next Room: A Review

Mark Ulrich as Dr. Givings (left) and Jessica Bess Lanius as Mrs. Givings (right) in Forward Theater's In the Next Room or the vibrator play 
at The Playhouse at Overture Center, Nov. 4 - 21, 2010
Credit: Zane Williams

Sex has been on my mind a lot lately. The politics of it, specifically: the permission to have it, to seek it, to allow it. To reject it. About a month ago, I updated the "looking for" list on my online dating profile:

new friends, long-term dating, short-term dating, casual sex 

It's amazing what two little words can do. There's a shift in the way men speak to me. They're ruder, for one thing. More hostile, more critical, more direct. They make demands. They make assumptions. They strip me with their eyes and they expect things.

I've lost three friends over it, which is astounding. A woman's sexuality, when not directly benefiting the man in question, is for many men a Code Orange threat. And if it's not a threat, it's an invitation. And if that invitation dare be offered one and denied another, holy lord watch out.

And it's got me thinking about Victorian times, you know? Corsets and covered ankles, repression and silence. What's more confining, at the end of the day?

So when Gwen Rice, the Communications Director of Forward Theater Company, asked me to review their latest production, Sarah Ruhl's Pulitzer and Tony nominated play In the Next Room, or the vibrator play, my answer was an emphatic yes.

The story takes place in the late 1800's in the home of Dr. and Mrs. Givings. Dr. Givings (the wonderfully understated Mark Ulrich) treats hysteria patients in his home with the help of his assistant Annie (Leia Espericueta, who is wonderful but a bit young for the role). He cures hysteria by inducing 'paroxysm' with a large, vibrating device one character compares to a farm implement. It's a fearsome machine.

The doctor's patients include Sabrina Daldry (Karen Moeller), brought in by her unsympathetic husband (the excellent, if unlikable, Richard Ganoung), and Leo Irving (Ryan Schabach), a sensitive artist with frazzled nerves.

Mrs. Givings (the radiant Jessica Bess Lanius) is bored and directionless, a recent mother whose uncooperative body can't produce the milk her baby needs. She reluctantly hires Elizabeth (Marti Gobel, a highlight of the show), the Daldry's black housekeeper, to serve as a wet nurse.

"There are three kinds of people in the world," Mrs. Givings says to Mr. Daldry, with the certainty of one who has lived a sheltered life. She says there are people who carry an umbrella when it doesn't rain, people who don't carry an umbrella when it does rain, and people who carry an umbrella exactly when it rains and not when it doesn't.

"And what sort of person are you, Mrs. Givings?" he asks her, eyes sparkling. She is momentarily silenced.

"Well, I don't know what sort of person I am," she replies. "My husband's always held the umbrella for me."

Karen Moeller as Sabrina Daldry (left) and Jessica Bess Lanius as Mrs. Givings (right)
Credit: Zane Williams

The production values of the show are wonderful: a gorgeous set designed by Frank Schneeberger, breathtaking costumes by Scott A. Rött, and one of the most effective uses of music and lighting I can remember seeing on stage (designed by composer Joe Cerqua and lighting designer John G. Frautschy). Director Jennifer Uphoff Gray makes excellent use of the space. She expertly directs our eye, with scenes often happening in the foreground and the background simultaneously.

This is a play about relationships, not about plot. The story is somewhat thin, but my attention was held by the lyrical dialogue, the laugh-out-loud humor, and of course the industrial-strength vibrator featured prominently upstage.

The play isn't a farce and the humor isn't crude, though if you're shy, be prepared to blush a few times. But if you have a chance to see In the Next Room, do. It's the show's Midwest premiere and getting the rights to produce it was a challenge. Despite it's eyebrow-raising title, this play is ultimately about intimacy, vulnerability, and the intersection of jealousy and love.

For me, In the Next Room was a play of moments. Some made me blush, some made me laugh, and a few made me cry. The last scene of the play is the sweetest, most affecting scene I have ever seen on stage. These moments didn't always flow in a cohesive arc, but they flared and burned like one of Edison's newfangled bulbs.


The show runs November 4 - 21 at the Playhouse at Overture Center. Shows are Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 PM, Saturdays at 8 PM, and Sundays at 2 PM. Tickets are $20-35 and can be purchased HERE.