Tracking down early vibrators proves a challenge

Early vibrators were sometimes operated with a foot pedal, and they weren’t household items either. They were usually in the hands of doctors and used to treat hysteria in women (and occasionally men). University of Waikato students are featuring in the play In the Next Room or the vibrator play being staged by Carving in Ice productions in November.

Senior Lecturer in Theatre Studies at Waikato University Gaye Poole is directing the play and says tracking down antique vibrators is proving a challenge. “I have asked around a number of antique stores and nobody has heard of these early electric vibrators so we’ve actually turned to a props maker to help us out.”

Intimacy and Electricity

In the Next Room or the vibrator play was written by Sarah Ruhl in 2009 and is billed as a comedy of marriage, intimacy and electricity. “It’s set in the 1880s. Electricity is new and a Dr Givings has innocently invented a device for treating hysteria in women, and sometimes men,” says Ms Poole.

Aided by his nurse, Dr Givings provides relief from hysteria by turning on his machine and inducing ‘paroxysms’ while his wife in the next room, a new mother, wonders what’s going on.

“The play is really about the absence of sympathy and understanding between men and women and the suspicion and fear surrounding female sexuality.”

Hairdryer Substitute

Alys Antiques in Cambridge is sponsoring the play, providing $14,000 worth of pieces, props and furniture, but until the vital piece of equipment is made or found, the actors are using a hairdryer in rehearsal.

Six Waikato University students are in the cast and others are helping backstage for the production taking place in November. One of them is Natalie Sangster, Waikato Sir Edmund Hillary Scholar, dancer, beauty queen and Theatre Studies student.

“Initially I was a bit shocked about the content of the play,” says Natalie. “But I kept re-reading the script and really, the vibrator only plays a small part, it’s more about relationships. The challenge for me is playing an ‘hysterical’ wife because I’ve never been married - or hysterical.”

The play runs for a week from November 11 at the University of Waikato’s Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts.