The Vibrator Play

 Our second field trip for my Theatre Freshmen Seminar class was to Dallas's Kitchen Dog Theatre! Known by both names, The Vibrator Play or In The Next Room, by Sarah Ruhl was one of the most amazing plays I have ever seen! Going into this, I thought that by the name, it was going to be all about sex and vibrators. Luckily, I was proven wrong!
 Taking place in the 1880s, just after the idea of electricity being in a household came to fruition, The Vibrator Play was a spectacular story about marriages going awry due to miscommunication and loneliness. Characters: Mrs.Givings, mother to a newborn, learns she is unable to produce a sufficient amount of milk for her baby; Mr.Givings, well known doctor and creator of the first vibrator; Mrs.Daldry, a young woman married to a wealthy older man whom she is bored of; Mr.Daldry, an older man who wishes only for a lively beautiful wife for company; Elizabeth; a black worker for the Daldrys who becomes a wet nurse for the Givings; Mr.Irving, a rambunctious painter who falls in love too quickly; &Annie, the lonely assistant to the doctor. Mr.Givings has invented a devise to help cure sick women by giving them orgasms & has been treating women quite successfully! But he has failed in keeping his darling, lively wife company. Mrs.Givings is upset that her husband spends all hours locked up in his office & when he leaves, he goes off to the bar leaving her at home with her malnourished baby. After hiring Elizabeth as a wet nurse, Mrs. Givings realizes that now, no one needs her & tries desperately to get her husband's attention, even if that means falling for a rouge painter. Mrs.Daldry has been having a rough time & doesn't know why, but after receiving the vibrating treatments she feels much better & continues to return just for a few minutes of bliss.
 The story goes off into multiple issues of society and is an absolutely beautiful story full of romance and comedy! Every time the women, or Mr.Irving, would visit The Other Room, the audience would move forward in their seats waiting to laugh again. The acting was fantastic all around, and the set was beautiful. With the design of The Kitchen Dog Theatre, the stage was again in a weird format. There was a frontal and side view, but where I was sitting, I was actually on the stage! The set stretched all the way out into the audience, so the seats where I was, was in "The Other Room" & all of the actors would walk right by and undress into their undergarments barely a foot away. It was an amazing experience, and the cast was so nice! At the end, when we got to talk to them, they were all very insightful and passed out hugs like candy! Definitely a play to see, if you want to have a good time laughing and experiencing a beautiful story!