Jeremy Joynt and Arlette Morgan

It's uncategorizable. I've seen it referred to as a comedy, but that doesn't begin to describe it. Is it a drama of sexual repression and sexual awakening? A melodrama of thwarted loves? A historical study? Is there some feminist theme to it? Is it supposed to show how far we've come since the 1880s, or how far we haven't come? It's all of these.

It seems strange that when electricity was still new, even before there were electric street lights, someone invented a vibrating device. Maybe not so strange is that the medical profession decided it could be used for therapeutic masturbation. (The word "masturbation" never appears in the play; "onanism" does.) Therapy for what? For that catchall diagnosis, hysteria. Considered to be almost exclusively a disease of women, doctors apparently decided that pent up uterine fluids were the cause, and the cure was to release them by vaginal stimulation In the rare case of a male with hysteria, massage the prostate instead—in this play, by using the "Chattanooga" model of the vibrator, which is the funniest and also the scariest thing in the show.

Starting with this bit of quack medical history, Sarah Ruhl constructs a fairly intricate plot. Done in the style of Edith Wharton or Henry James, but more explicit than either of them would have been, we see the domestic drama of a Dr. Givings (who is the practitioner with the vibrator, and who is not very giving at all) and his wife Catherine, who has recently given birth and is probably suffering from post-partum depression. Catherine is conjugally neglected and lonely, and her breast milk is drying up. The other characters are the African-American wet nurse, a married couple of which the wife is undergoing treatment by Dr. Givings, a male patient who is an American painter lately returned from Italy, and Dr. Givings' laconic assistant Annie.

Within this group, Ruhl traces the development of several varieties of love: the "acceptable" kind (husband and wife, mother and child) and the forbidden (adulterous, interracial, and lesbian). The frustrated pairings off of these characters are quite touching. If not for the goings-on with the vibrator in the next room (the doctor's office), this would be a pretty straightforward period drama. I'd call it a modern dramma giocoso, the term applied to Mozart operas that are both comic and serious.

I don't want to give away the plot. Much of the pleasure of watching this play is finding out what happens next, not all of which is predictable. The main pleasure, though, comes from the acting. Director Joe Alberti has attracted a seriously good group of players.

Arlette Morgan as Christine almost never leaves the stage, and she is pitch-perfect throughout. Whether depressed, fearful, desirous, conflicted, or passionate, she is convincing in everything she does. Jenny Hoffman is very good as Mrs. Daldry, the female patient who is locked into the wrong relationship. Jeremy Joynt, Matt Heath, and Justino Brokaw do their customary fine work.

I was impressed by Yolanda Luchetti Knight as Annie, who shows the power of a very reserved performance. Whether this was a directing or an acting choice, it works. The real find here is Eboni Thompson as Elizabeth, the wet nurse. A restrained but deeply felt, wonderful performance. I hope to see her much more often on Albuquerque stages.

Wynema Gonzagowski has done an amazing job with the props. I wonder where she found the vibrators and the antique light bulbs, which are essential to the play. The lighting by Brian MacNamara and the costumes by Rhonda Backinoff and Louisa O'Neill are excellent. Dean Squibb has produced a beautiful set. My only complaint is that the door between the doctor's office and the Givings' living room is important to the stage action; it would have been better to have an actual door, rather than forcing the actors to pantomime opening and closing it and eavesdropping though it. The production is stage managed by Ray Rey Griego, David Burton, and Caitlyn Jones.

All in all, the Vortex and Joe Alberti present a fine production of an unusual play. Some audience members might find it a bit slow or stilted, but we're in the 1880s, after all. The world was much more formal and not as rushed as it is now. As for me, it held my interest throughout.

In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Joe Alberti, is being performed at the Vortex Theatre, on Carlisle a few blocks north of Menaul in Albuquerque. Through May 10, 2015. Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30, Sundays at 2:00. Tickets $22 or $19 (with certain discounts); for students, $15. Info at www.vortexabq.org or 505-247-8600.

Photo: Alan Mitchell

--Dean Yannias