Viewer beware: strange things are going down at the Maidment Theatre

The advertisements for Sarah Ruhl’s intriguingly titled In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play) do contain a warning that there will be some nudity. But what’s most surprising about this gem of a play is that it’s rollicking good fun, whether seen with a friend or (as was my case) with a room full of the 60+ age demographic.

The vibrator in question is Dr. Givings’ Chattanooga Vibrator. It’s the late 19th century, and electricity is changing people’s lives in ways they never thought possible. Not least for Dr. Givings’ female patients, who visit in the hope of being cured of their ‘hysteria’, and leave having had a ‘tension relieving paroxysm’, a sensation unlike any felt before. It’s perhaps not an outré statement to claim that electricity was widespread before orgasms were the same.

The Chattanooga Vibrator did in fact exist, and was once wielded by doctors with probably much the same ignorance of its sexual, rather than merely therapeutic effects. Dr Givings’ patients seem quite unable to explain what it is they’ve just experienced. In fact, when one character suggests that these sensations might be what some women experience in beds with their husbands, the response is fits of incredulous laughter.

It’s a set-up that does make for some real laugh-out loud moments. After giggling through the first act with the rest of the crowd like schoolchildren however, I did wonder if the play could deliver more than a series of jokes (however hilarious) made at the expense of its characters. But although the humour continued well into the second act, deeper themes became clear.

This isn’t a one-trick pony – it’s a story about human need and desire, rationalism versus passion, science versus nature. There’s a sadness in each character’s story that comes from some lack of control in their lives, and the inability to express clearly what it is they might be seeking. In that sense, there’s a universality to the story that’s relevant even in the 21st century, when there’s a sex shop in every town.

Overall, under Colin McColl’s direction the Auckland Theatre Company has bought to life a play that’s both genuinely touching and hilarious, never bordering on farce despite some outrageous set ups. Until the 7th of April, it’s the most fun you can have with your clothes on. Get a ticket now.

By Delaney MacDonald

The Auckland Theatre Company shows In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) at The Maidment Theatre till 7th April 2012.

For more info, please visit the Auckland Theatre Company website.