GableStage: In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play (3 reviews)

GableStage opened its production of Sara Ruhl's In the Next Room (or, The Vibrator Play) on May 14, 2011.

A comedy about marriage, intimacy and electricity. In the 1880s, a new medical device is developed to treat and pacify "hysterical" women, but it unknowingly produces a very different result. The Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright shares this story of repressed sexuality and physical exploration with equal doses of humor and emotion.

Joe Adler directed a cast that included Jim Ballard, Irene Adjan, Stephen G. Anthony, Julie Kleiner, Sally Bondi, Ricky Waugh, and Renata Eastlick

Ron Levitt reviewed for ENV Magazine:

...although he doesn’t’ appear until Act II, (Leo Irving), played by multi-Carbonell nominated and Silver Palm recipient Ricky Waugh, steals the show whenever he is on stage.   Playing a  gentleman still living in the age of of gallantry, Waugh  does a comical interpretation which  steals the spotlight in this courageously written  play. It is a prize-worthy interpretation.

Theatre insiders agree that Director Joseph Adler  — who has a mantle full of awards for his theatrical acumen – deserves  much of the credit  for the quick pacing of this production and certainly  for providing an appropriate  forum for a well-scripted play. The comic flow has the fingerprint of Adler, who has fine-tuned this terrific ensemble  of individual talent  into an outstanding theatrical  team.

Christine Dolen reviewed for The Miami Herald;

...as an artistic director, Adler is passionate about plays that can be both discomfiting and enlightening, which In the Next Room certainly is.

There's a section where the review devolves to an examination of the play's characters, with bits of review-like adjectives randomly tossed in, almost as an afterthought -

(blah blah blah)...the vibrant Julie Kleiner  (blah blah blah)...a delightful Irene Adjan  (blah blah blah)...the moving Renata Eastlick  (blah blah blah)...an appealingly amusing Ricky Waugh... 

Eventually, we get back to solid review:

Costume designer Ellis Tillman has outdone himself with gorgeous gowns for the ladies...

The acting, including an appealing turn by Sally Bondi as Givings’ nurse, Annie, and Stephen G. Anthony’s portrayal of the sexist yet charismatic Mr. Daldry, is first-rate. And so is Adler’s staging, which allows for the artful interplay of unexpected humor, palpable longing and, at last, a grace note of eroticism, beautifully played.

Roger Martin reviewed for Miami Artzine:

A Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2010, the piece by Sara Ruhl shows us how sickly ladies in the late 1800s could be brought back to blooming health, rosy cheeked and serene of brow, by the simple manipulation of the little man in the boat.  Interesting stuff for all, especially as portrayed by this excellent cast.

A typically excellent GableStage production, In The Next Room or The Vibrator Play is a wonderfully funny, yet tender, affair.  It does, however, slow down a little in the second act as plotting replaces inspiration and we get a two hour and twenty minutes running time.

Lyle Baskin has produced a gorgeously realistic period living room and examination room and Ellis Tillman's costumes, Omar Martos' lighting and Matt Corey's sound are, as usual, just as good as good can be.

In the Next Room (or, The Vibrator Play) plays at GableStage through June 12, 2011.