In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play - Broadway

What Is the Story of In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play?
In a seemingly perfect, well-to-do Victorian home, proper gentleman and scientist Dr. Givings has innocently invented an extraordinary new device for treating “hysteria” in women (and occasionally men): the vibrator. Adjacent to the doctor’s laboratory, his young and energetic wife tries to tend to their newborn daughter—and wonders exactly what is going on in the next room. When a new “hysterical” patient and her husband bring a wet nurse and their own complicated relationship into the doctor’s home, Dr. and Mrs. Givings must examine the nature of their own marriage, and what it truly means to love someone.

Should I See It?

What Is In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play Like?
Written partially as an homage to the Victorian novels of Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte, In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play is no tawdry costume drama with a vibrating gimmick. A true comedy of manners and science, the show pulls more laughs in its examinations of relationships and marriage than one might expect from a period piece with corsets and bustles. That’s not to say the world premiere play is a riotous romp; In the Next Room transcends easy laughs into the touching, heartbreaking moments true of relationships in any century. And don’t worry—the vibrators of yore looked more like kitchen appliances than the sex toys of today, and the play consciously keeps both its cast and the audience’s modesty in mind.

Is In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play Good for Kids?
No matter how modest the production may be, it’s safe to say that the buzz around In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play should be experienced by adults only. Certain sexual situations are bound to make younger viewers squeamish (or ask questions mom and dad may not be ready to answer), while the themes of the play itself will be lost on those who can’t even drive yet. The play also culminates in full frontal male nudity, meaning that those who aren’t mature enough to publicly deal with anatomy are best left at home.