In the Next Room or the vibrator play

As much progress society has made in the last century, one question still looms large “what do women want?”


In the Next Room or the vibrator play is at heart, a play about how men and women relate to each other. Dr. Givings is a gynecologist who treats women for “hysteria” in his operating room located just off his living room. His young wife, Catherine (desperately wants to be acknowledged and loved, by him and by her new baby, who she is having trouble producing enough milk to feed. Troubled by the fact that her baby needs a wet nurse and having her husband infatuated with his new science and love of electricity, she is alone and in need of any kind of stimulation.


Mrs. Daldry is brought to see the Doctor by her husband Mr. Daldry who is fed up with her nervousness, sensitivity to light and more importantly, to his touch. As he explains to the Doctor, “There is very little sympathy between us”. Dr. Giving’s assures Mr. Daldry that he and his assistant Annie have been very successful at curing women of their hysteria by inducing a “paroxysm” in them and that soon Mrs. Daldry will be acting like she once was before.

As Dr. Giving’s, Gercke is amusing in his portrayal of an educated man that has no clue what is going on. For a scientist who is interested in observation and figuring out the answers to puzzling questions he completely misses the fact that his wife is slowly withering of loneliness and envy from lack of attention from him. It becomes apparent that even though they have a child, the good doctor has never thought to truly look at and see his wife. At the end of the play, you sense their awkwardness with each other as they truly have a chance to truly look at each other for the first time. He is equally clueless with his patients as he recites stories about Thomas Edison and electrocuting elephants while in the middle of a treatment on a patient.

Personally, I loved this character. Here is an educated man who hasn’t figured out that he knows nothing about what counts, which is mainly everything in his life, including his wife. He is a gynecologist who doesn’t understand women, asking the husband of his patient what is wrong with his wife instead of her. Grated, some of this is the time in which it is set, but the other is that he is a man who observes but doesn’t really seem to see the people around him.

Catherine, who hires a wet nurse for her baby named Elizabeth (finds herself at loose ends with both her baby and her husband occupied. She befriends her husband’s patients as they come and go through her living room and overhears the interesting sounds coming from the next room, and finally succumbs to her curiosity of just what her husband is doing in there. As Catherine, she is funny and energetic in direct contrast to her husbands somber detached scientific approach. Her character is someone the audience can relate too, even with the period setting and societal rules. Who hasn’t wanted to feel loved and involved in their partners life?

As for what’s going on in the next room? The machine that lies at the center of this play looks like a giant cumbersome box on wheels that has a tendency to short out the electricity in the rest of the house. It is more fascinating as the technological advance that it is for the time, alongside the light bulb and the light switch than it is for the “miraculous properties” it might bestow upon the patients.

While the play does not provide all the answers to the infamous question of what women want, it makes it clear that something that would help is that same old answer of “love and attention”, but also shows that a paroxysm or two couldn’t hurt along the way.

This play does have some nudity and adult situations, so it’s probably best to leave the kids (or the more immature) at home.

In the Next Room or the vibrator play

As much progress society has made in the last century, one question still looms large “what do women want?”


In the Next Room or the vibrator play is at heart, a play about how men and women relate to each other. Dr. Givings is a gynecologist who treats women for “hysteria” in his operating room located just off his living room. His young wife, Catherine (desperately wants to be acknowledged and loved, by him and by her new baby, who she is having trouble producing enough milk to feed. Troubled by the fact that her baby needs a wet nurse and having her husband infatuated with his new science and love of electricity, she is alone and in need of any kind of stimulation.


Mrs. Daldry is brought to see the Doctor by her husband Mr. Daldry who is fed up with her nervousness, sensitivity to light and more importantly, to his touch. As he explains to the Doctor, “There is very little sympathy between us”. Dr. Giving’s assures Mr. Daldry that he and his assistant Annie have been very successful at curing women of their hysteria by inducing a “paroxysm” in them and that soon Mrs. Daldry will be acting like she once was before.

As Dr. Giving’s, Gercke is amusing in his portrayal of an educated man that has no clue what is going on. For a scientist who is interested in observation and figuring out the answers to puzzling questions he completely misses the fact that his wife is slowly withering of loneliness and envy from lack of attention from him. It becomes apparent that even though they have a child, the good doctor has never thought to truly look at and see his wife. At the end of the play, you sense their awkwardness with each other as they truly have a chance to truly look at each other for the first time. He is equally clueless with his patients as he recites stories about Thomas Edison and electrocuting elephants while in the middle of a treatment on a patient.

Personally, I loved this character. Here is an educated man who hasn’t figured out that he knows nothing about what counts, which is mainly everything in his life, including his wife. He is a gynecologist who doesn’t understand women, asking the husband of his patient what is wrong with his wife instead of her. Grated, some of this is the time in which it is set, but the other is that he is a man who observes but doesn’t really seem to see the people around him.

Catherine, who hires a wet nurse for her baby named Elizabeth (finds herself at loose ends with both her baby and her husband occupied. She befriends her husband’s patients as they come and go through her living room and overhears the interesting sounds coming from the next room, and finally succumbs to her curiosity of just what her husband is doing in there. As Catherine, she is funny and energetic in direct contrast to her husbands somber detached scientific approach. Her character is someone the audience can relate too, even with the period setting and societal rules. Who hasn’t wanted to feel loved and involved in their partners life?

As for what’s going on in the next room? The machine that lies at the center of this play looks like a giant cumbersome box on wheels that has a tendency to short out the electricity in the rest of the house. It is more fascinating as the technological advance that it is for the time, alongside the light bulb and the light switch than it is for the “miraculous properties” it might bestow upon the patients.

While the play does not provide all the answers to the infamous question of what women want, it makes it clear that something that would help is that same old answer of “love and attention”, but also shows that a paroxysm or two couldn’t hurt along the way.

This play does have some nudity and adult situations, so it’s probably best to leave the kids (or the more immature) at home.

Romeo and Juliet - the graphic novel?

In January I proclaimed that I was going to join Graphic Novel Challenge I bet you all thought that I had forgotten didn’t you? Well, here is the first one for review Romeo and Juliet The Graphic Novel: Original Text.

Having not been a regular graphic novel reader I was a bit hesitant about how I would feel when reading this novel. It seemed a bit silly at first to read a graphic novel adaption of a play written specifically to be performed aloud. Shakespeare’s language is meant to be heard, so how could they condense the language into small blurbs in bubbles over characters heads? Of course, in the novels favor, all the scene descriptions, time place, weather, etc... can all be found in the language so that all was able to be cut without sacrificing any of the plot or dialogue between characters.

The look of the novel is very traditional, and mirrors what most people would expect, especially if you have seen the Franco Zefferelli’s 1968 film. Nothing in the adaption seems out of place for the story it is telling. But what scenes are chosen to be illustrated and how is a very interesting choice. Much like a director, the illustrators had to chose what they felt was most important to show and how to show it to the audience. What scene can be told on one page with six panels, or three pages and 30 panels are all things that had to be broken down in a way that makes the story make the most sense. For the most part I think they got it right, The flight scenes are drawn with a sense of power and movement, so that the reader was invested in the fight, both thematically as it relates to the story and physically as something to see. The balcony scene has the romantic overtones (and Romeo on the balcony with Juliet as opposed to one the ground as Shakespeare intended) and the physicality of watching someone climb said balcony.

As a late to the game graphic novel reader I sometimes had problems following the order of the pictures and which way and when to read the wording (or maybe that’s not a normal thing and that’s just me?). Once I got into the flow of the story and the language (it helped that I have this play memorized, yes?) I liked the choices made to help with the telling of this story. At times there are things that seem almost overly spelled out, as the line and the action by the character are the same, but then I realize that in some ways this makes the action more clear than just by having them say it. On stage the line “I bite my thumb at them” can be lost, biting one’s own thumb can be too small a movement for people in the back row tosee. Some people may not realize this is an insult. The comic book somehow makes it quite clear through three panels. I would fight this guy if he did that to me!

Sometimes I had issues with a few of the drawings (sometimes there was a heavy black line on Juliet’s face that made her jaw look more mannish than a 14 year old girls ever should) but mostly the illustrators did a very good job recreating the scenes of Romeo and Juliet's world.

I am a fan of anything that brings theater and playwrights, especially Shakespeare, into a sphere that makes it easier for anyone (these novels aren’t just for kids) to read, understand and enjoy. I think this graphic novel adaption is an excellent way to introduce literature and theatre into someone’s life. This is an especially good way to introduce plays, most of which are meant to be heard and seen. At least in this format you can see it and read it, or you can even read it aloud. Definitely pick this up, it is very entertaining and true to the play from which it comes.

Now I am interested in the post apocalyptic, Romeo falls into a vat of nuclear waste and gains powers while Juliet has a secret identity graphic novel version. Anyone know where I can find that?

Tell Me on a Sunday: Overrated Musicals!

There are some shows that are amazing and popular and critically acclaimed, but then there are shows that are terrible and yet everyone loves them. While we all love to talk about shows that we love, I find that more people are more interested in talking about shows that they are baffled by or even just straight out dislike.

Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, and tastes vary from person to person. However, there is always that musical that someone considers overrated and every time someone mentions it they think “What am I missing?”

To help, here the definition of overrated: to rate or appraise too highly; overestimate

Also, here are the words that come up when you put “overrated” in a thesaurus: magnify, exaggerate, blow out of proportion and embellish.

Ok, so with that all out of the way here are the two shows that I think are so overrated that I, to this moment, do not understand their appeal.

And I know that the second you read this, you will think “Have you lost your mind?”

I promise you that I have not

Here they are:

Les Miserables

Phantom of the Opera

I will with while you let that sink in….I know it’s most likely that someone loves those shows.

It just so happens that the two musicals that I have mentioned are two of the most successful and long running musicals in the history of Broadway. But that doesn’t mean I’m wrong, and it doesn’t mean that they’re good.

I know that Les Miserables is based on a classic novel, and I have read that novel. I have seen various adaptions of the novel, both musical and non, so it’s not the story. I think that while it has some songs that are memorable (Although possibly it is because they are played until ad nauseum – yes “I Dreamed a Dream” I am thinking of you). But overall I think that it is a overly long, dark (visually) and overly sentimental musical. It can border on campy and sometimes crosses the line into overblown.

While I know that adapting into a musical can require changes to plot and characters (Wicked, I’m looking at you) I feel like the adaptions leave out some interesting plot information, turn truly vile opportunists into charmingly obnoxious disillusioned con men and simplify other characters into shadows of what they were.

At one point during this show I realized that the person I was attending the show with and I were using binoculars to look at the stitching details on the costumes – that’s how not invested we were in what was happening on the stage.

Now on to Phantom of the Opera……dear lord

Repetition - The songs are incredibly repetitive - how many reprises and sequels to songs can one show have?There is:

"Think of Me" Part 1 – Carlotta, Ballet Girls, André and Buquet

"Think of Me" Part 2 – Christine and Raoul

"Notes/Prima Donna" – Firmin, André, Raoul, Carlotta, Madame Giry, Meg, Piangi, and Phantom

"All I Ask of You" – Raoul and Christine

"All I Ask of You (Reprise)/Chandelier Crash" – Phantom, Raoul, and Christine

"Notes II" – Firmin, André, Carlotta, Piangi, Raoul, Christine, Madame Giry, and Phantom

And that’s not counting all the other songs in this musical!

Lip-syncing- While I understand that due to staging, sometimes songs have to be pre-recorded, it is not cool that the main song, the most famous song and the moments that are so revered by people are also the moments that are pre-recorded. So unless you go to the show knowing that you will be watching someone lip-sync they do not tell you. That’s just cheating….

This adaption of the novel that it is based on is not well done and in doing so sacrifices the character development and with it audience investment. There is no explanation as to why the Phantom lives in the bowels of the opera house (he is a disfigured genius who was one of the contractors who built the opera and who secretly built into the cellars a home for himself) or even his name (Erik). So why should I care about him?

Ok, so now that I’ve gotten that off of my chest….which musicals do you think are the most overrated?

Is there a musical that you avoid at all costs? Why and what turns you off from this musical?

Thursdays Thesaurus: In The Round

Today we take on the term – In The Round
In the round is a type of theater that puts the actors in the center of the theater with the audience on all sides surrounding them. It can also be referred to as an “arena theatre” or “central staging”.

Theatre in the round can be traced back to Greek and roman theatre and can be seen today in the Greek and Italian ancient theatrical ruins. It came back into popularity in the early 1900’s as theater began experimenting with more flexible theatre arrangements.Usually this type of theatre style leads to sets being designed with care so that the audience is not blocked by furniture or scenery. This staging does require the actors to sometimes have their backs to the audience, so it can sometimes be difficult for actors to adapt to if they are more used to traditional theatre arrangements.

If you are in San Diego then you should go to The Old Globe, their Sheryl & Harvey White Theatre is a theatre that is designed for in the round productions. In Los Angeles the Theatre In The Round Players only do productions in this style.

Now I’d like to know, have you seen any shows in the round? How did you like it?