Play Guide

Thanks to the miracle of electricity, the mysterious glow of electric lights reaches a well-to-do home in Victorian era New York. Mrs. Catherine Givings can turn a lamp on-and off-with a flick of a switch. Her husband, Doctor Givings, is also fascinated with what electricity can do to revolutionize his practice - and the health of his patients. In his operating theatre, adjacent to the couple's parlour, Dr. Givings recently installed a strange electric-powered box.

The doctor's newest patient, Mrs. Daldry, comes to him suffering from symptoms that alarm her husband. Sensitivity to light and cold. Complaints of fatigue and inexplicable weeping. The diagnosis is obvious to Dr. Givings: hysteria. His treatment is a revolutionary therapeutic electrical massage, which promises to relieve pressure on Mrs. Daldry's nerves. "You will soon have your wife back," Dr. Givings assures Mr. Daldry. "You will soon be wondering how it is Mrs. Daldry looks so much like a seventeen-yearold."

With the help of the doctor's assistant, Annie, Dr. Givings administers this new-fangled treatment until Mrs. Daldry experiences a "paroxysm" and the session is deemed a success. Alone in the next room, Mrs. Givings begins to wonder what this revolutionary new treatment is? All she knows is Mrs. Daldry emerges a new woman.

MRS GIVINGS: How well rested you look!
MRS DALDRY: I feel wonderful. Your husband is a good doctor..
MRS GIVINGS: Yes he is.
MR DALDRY: There are roses in your cheeks.

Mrs. Daldry is amiable to return for another treatment the following day.

Meanwhile, languishing from loneliness and unhappiness, Mrs. Givings becomes increasingly curious about the mysterious mechanical sounds and alarming cries emanating from her husband's operating theatre.

MRS. GIVINGS: What is that sound? What were you doing?
DR. GIVINGS: Electrical therapy, my dear. Very successful session.
MRS. GIVINGS: I wish to see it.
DR. GIVINGS: ...Happily you are my blooming young wife without a hint of neurosis and in no need of my inventions or experiments.
MRS. GIVINGS: Experiment on me!
DR. GIVINGS: I can assure you that you would not like it.
MRS. GIVINGS: Experiment on me!

That evening Dr. Givings leaves for the club to discuss electricity with his colleagues. Mrs. Givings, aided and abetted by Mrs. Daldry, seizes the opportunity to unravel the mystery of the device.

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