In the Victorian Age, women were hysterical. Not funny, per se, but filled with hysteria, which was an actual diagnosis. With the discovery of electricity (“Thank you Mr. Edison,” Dr. Givings says), doctors began treating women with a new device: the electric vibrator. (Yes, that sort of vibrator.) What were they thinking? That’s the question Sarah Ruhl’s Tony-Award nominated play “In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play” asks. It opens next week at Alley Repertory Theater. Dr. Givings sees dozens of satisfied patients, including Mrs. Daldry, Liberty Leeds, right. The only woman he doesn’t help is his wife Catherine, Carly Oppie, left.

Dana Oland