THE THEATER MIRROR, New England's LIVE Theater Guide
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note: entire contents copyright 2008 by Beverly Creasey
THE CLEAN HOUSE, Sarah Ruhl’s adorably wacky play about love and the power of laughter, is getting a spiffy production at the New Repertory Theatre through March 23rd. THE CLEAN HOUSE reminded me of the old I LOVE LUCY shows. America fell in love with Lucy for her unabashed, unrepentant lunacy and her loopy innocence---and that’s what makes this HOUSE sparkle.
Ruhl makes us believe the improbable and trust the impossible in her madcap, little morality play. Several characters clean house, literally and figuratively in Ruhl’s story about a Portuguese-speaking, love-bearing free spirit (the fabulous Cristi Miles) who hates to clean but loves to make people laugh. She works for two driven doctors who no longer have time to enjoy their lives, let alone each other---but the young woman’s mere presence seems to infuse the house with life.
Lest you think this is a commedia dell’arte set-up where servants prove wiser than their masters, it isn’t. THE CLEAN HOUSE transcends the comic to become a triumph of the spirit. Ruhl leads us gently, from the hilariously absurd to the genuinely touching, giggling all the way.
Director Rick Lombardo sets just the right tone for Ruhl’s clever parable. Paula Plum gives a solid serio-comic performance as the doctor who can’t connect with her husband and can’t even get her maid to dust. Nancy Carroll is wildly funny as the depressed, uptight sister obsessed with folding laundry, who loses it to the strains of TURANDOT. Will Lyman is a hoot in a pair of roles: as the humorless husband who learns to love and as the maid’s spontaneous, rollicking father. Bobbie Steinbach gets two sensational parts, as the maid’s dearly departed mother and as the catalyst for both doctors’ transformation. (Steinbach’s description of childbirth, alone, is worth the price of admission.)
Charles Schoonmaker’s costumes, like Lombardo’s inspired musical choices, reflect the heightened mood of the piece and Cristina Todesco’s set magically reveals yet another locale in Act II, in the spirit of the play. Deb Sullivan’s light glows when characters light up with laughter. Jamie Whoolery’s shimmering projections of ethereal clouds and blue moons dovetail perfectly with Kaetlyn Wilcox’s gorgeous paintings in the lobby gallery. Don’t miss either the play or the artwork!