The 1880s was a time when American innovators found new ways to harness electricity, and as Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room or the vibrator play shows, it wasn't all about the lighting -- although the lighting for In the Next Room is very good at GableStage, where the play benefits from stunning tech.
The setting is the home/office of a physician in a prosperous town somewhere north of New York City. The suggestively named Dr. Givings has discovered that use of the new electrical vibrator does wonders for women suffering what was then called hysteria, though he notes that it makes women who are sad happy and somehow saddens women who seem otherwise content. When his wife, Catherine, asks about the mysterious sounds mechanical and human -- coming from his treatment room, Dr. Givings puts her off with a bit of condescension. But Catherine enlists the help of the doctor's lonely assistant, Annie (Sally Bondi, who eventually gets to convey quite a lot in just a few seconds), and finds out what all the fuss is about. As delivered by Julie Kleiner, Catherine's first encounter is aurally reminiscent of Meg Ryan in "When Harry Met Sally," although subsequent experiences seem less derivative. Meanwhile, Catherine worries over her inability to nurse her baby, so her husband and a family friend decide the friend's black housekeeper will serve as wet nurse. There's a bit of repetition -- the comings and goings to be expected at a doctor's office -- that can make the time drag. But Renata Eastlick as the wet nurse injects great warmth into the proceedings, and Ricky Waugh as an artist eager to experience the machine-enabled "paroxysms" brings a welcome lightness to the second act. Tech is terrific. Victorian costumes have texture, grace, volume (for the women) and splendid tailoring. A two-level set splits the playing area into a parlor with piano and the treatment area above until the very end, when a lovely winter blue tableau takes over.
