In the Next Room (Or the Vibrator Play)

Auckland Theatre Company

Media Release

IN THE NEXT ROOM (OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY)

It gives the term 'the body electric' a whole new meaning...

Colin McColl directs a stellar cast including Anna Jullienne, Toni Potter, Hera Dunleavy, Adam Gardiner and in the acclaimed comedy, IN THE NEXT ROOM (OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY).

This scintillating new play by exciting young American writer, Sarah Ruhl, combines scientific history, politics of desire, and sexual behaviour in a delicious comedy. Auckland Theatre Company's IN THE NEXT ROOM (OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY) opens Thursday 15 March 2012 at 8pm, at the Maidment Theatre.

"Definitely one to catch. You owe yourself the pleasure." - Time Out Sydney

Saratoga Springs, New York, 1888. Dr Givings, a respectable gynaecologist, is obsessed with the new miracle of electricity.

His Chattanooga Vibrator has many advocates, who come back wanting more. His wife, a frustrated free spirit, craves romantic love, sensuality and excitement with her buttonedup

husband, who has more passion for science than for, well, passion. She longs to connect with him - but not electrically.

A funny, touching and stimulating new comedy about love, longing, science and invention, IN THE NEXT ROOM (OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY) is about knowing

what is good for you, even if there are no acceptable words for it.

"9/10... a sumptuously entertaining night in the theatre. Highly recommended." - The Sun Herald (Australia)

Sarah Ruhl is a brilliant American playwright with a unique comic voice. The author of acclaimed plays such as: The Clean House; Passion Play, A Cycle; Dead Man's Cell Phone; Melancholy Play; Demeter In The City; Eurydice; Orlando; and Late: A Cowboy Song.

Ruhl's plays have premiered at Lincoln Center Theater, the Goodman Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage, Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Yale Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Cornerstone Theater, Madison Repertory Theatre and the Piven Theatre Workshop, and have been produced across the US. Her plays have been performed all over the world and translated into Polish, Russian, Spanish, Norwegian, Korean, German and Arabic.

The bright young writer has already earned a MacArthur Fellowship, the Helen

Merrill Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, a Whiting Writers' Award and nominations for the Pulitzer Prize in 2005 and 2010. Ruhl was also the recipient of a 2008 PEN/pels Award for Drama.

"It's clever; it's very, very funny; and it's based on a true story. Set in the early days of electricity - the straight-laced, corseted 1880s - it gives the term "the body electric" a whole new meaning!" says Colin McColl, Auckland Theatre Company's Artistic Director.

Tickets for IN THE NEXT ROOM (OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY) can be purchased from the Maidment Theatre, 09 308 2383 or www.atc.co.nz.

ENDS

For more information, interview or photo opportunities please contact Laura Jones, laural@atc.co.nz, 09 309 0390 ext 273 or Michael Adams, michael@atc.co.nz 09 309 0390 ext 268

Production Information

IN THE NEXT ROOM (OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY)

By Sarah Ruhl

15 March - 07 April

Maidment Theatre

Cast :

Adam Gardiner - Dr Givings

Anne Julienne - Mrs Givings

Toni Potter - Mrs Daldry

Paul Glover - Mr Daldry

Hera Dunleavy - Annie

Lavinia 'Uhila - Elizabeth

Damien Avery - Leo

Creative team:

Colin McColl - Director

Rachael walker - Set Design

Elizabeth Whiting - Costume Design

Phillip Dexter MSc - Lighting Design

ENDS