In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play kindles the imagination

American playwright Sarah Ruhl’s In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play is, pardon the pun, stimulating and moving.

Set in a prosperous spa town in late 19th century New York, it draws on historical facts to show how the vibrator was used by doctors to induce orgasms, or paroxysms as they were called, to treat hysteria in women – and men in a few rare cases.

But on a deeper level underpinning the story is how women were neglected emotionally and physically in a male-dominated society. It’s about how female sexual pleasure was virtually unrecognizable to both sexes and how paroxysms were treated strictly as a therapeutic procedure. It’s about a desperate search for intimacy.

The action is set in Dr. Givings home-based consulting office where the well-meaning, straitlaced doctor applies therapeutic electrical massages to his patients, completely oblivious to their sexual pleasure.

Contrasting the doctor’s brisk efficiency is his patients’ shuddering moans and guttural cries as the vibrator animates their bodies.

Adjacent to the office is the drawing room where Mrs. Givings, a bubbly, free-spirited and at times tactless young woman feels lonely after taking second place to her husband’s experiments.

She has given birth to a girl and her milk supply has dried up. The Givings are forced to employ a black wet nurse. Elizabeth provides the service because her own baby son just died and the two women’s individual hurts begin to delicately scrape against each other.

The play’s thick layers are further mixed with the introduction of Leo Irving, a lovesick artist who briefly develops a flirtation with Mrs. Givings while receiving treatment from the good doctor.

Director Amy DeFelice takes great pains to never cheapen the gradually evolving eroticism. Everything takes place under crisp, white sheets.

One of the funniest scenes is when Mrs. Givings, completely ignorant of what goes on in her husband’s consulting room, persuades one of his patients, Mrs. Daltry, to show her what happens.

It’s not only a moment of female emancipation, but of two women discovering themselves through a moment of solidarity.

As Mrs. Givings, Gianna Vacirca inhabits her character with unbridled delight at discovering the mysteries of the world. And as the character arc shifts, Vacirca effortlessly navigates between loneliness and jealousy to affection and joy.

The other female characters are Caley Suliak’s Mrs. Daldry, a woman whose seesaw personality shifts wildly from starchy propriety to unbridled emotions to serene contemplation.

Monica Maddaford is the proficient yet sympathetic Annie, Dr. Givings’ assistant, while Althea Cunningham brings a quiet dignity to the role of Elizabeth.

And Mat Busby as Dr. Givings nails it as the distracted physician who must come to terms with his wife’s new demands while Byron Martin brings a brooding intensity to Leo Irving’s artistic temperament.

Into the Next Room, a production of Trunk Theatre, runs at the Backstage Theatre until Feb. 27.