Sarah Ruhl's piquant comedy about medical treatment for ailing women in 1880s America explores gender issues and touches
on the role of technology in sexual relations.
Dr Givings runs a successful clinic for depressed females in
his middle-class home. A supply of the latest domestic modcon – Thomas
Edison’s newly-available electricity – means he can deploy an apparatus that brings
about a miraculous change in the health of his patients after only a few
treatments.
Much of the humour in the play rests on the assumption that
the Victorians didn’t know that the ‘paroxysms’ induced by direct stimulation were
of a sexual nature. The spectacle of the straight-faced doctor (Jason Hughes) applying a buzzing contraption to his patient
(Flora Montgomery) lying under a sheet while
he stands beside the couch with a stop-watch is hilarious; even more so when he
extends his practice to include a local male poet (Edward Bennett) who has
experienced a romantic disappointment. Soon everyone wants in on the treatment, including Mrs Givings (Natalie Casey ), whether the doctor is present
or not.
Laurence Boswell’s brisk direction and an experienced cast, added
to authentic set and costume designs by Simon Kelly, recall the
satirical world of Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw, with similar ironic dialogue and comments on
social conventions.
Even they wouldn't have included the male full frontal nude, though, in a scene that seems tacked on to titillate, in line with the somewhat misleading poster and programme illustration.
The glamorous venue in Palace Street is readily accessible by walking through the new shopping mall opposite Westminster Cathedral, and the same street has a very cosy Shepherd Neame pub, The Cask and Glass in the same street. There's a noisy gastro-pub next to the theatre itself, which also has a restaurant and cocktail bar.
The stage an has an unusual semi-circular curtain rail that juts out into the small auditorium. Maybe this accounts for the ungenerous amount of leg-room. It made me glad there was an interval even though I was well-entertained for the hour and forty minutes running time of the play.
No comments:
Post a Comment