WEEKEND PREVIEW: Performance Network's 'In the Next Room' a Different Kind of Drama
The comedy follows the exploits of a 19th century doctor who finds a cure for women's hysteria in New York.
Long considered to be morally rigid and sexually repressed, modern audiences may be surprised to discover that, in some cases, the Victorians were actually more randy than history would have us believe. Such is the matter presented in the Performance Network Theatre's latest offering, Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room, Or the Vibrator Play. The plot revolves around the idea of treating female "hysteria," a once common medical diagnosis, through unconventional means. The original production was Tony and Puliter Prize nominated in 2010, and the script has since received multiple stagings throughout the country. Set in an upscale town somewhere in late 19th century New York, the story unfolds in the home -- and medical office -- of Dr. Givings (…
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