Depression, infidelity and terminal illness are not happy topics, but The Clean House, by Sarah Ruhl, is full of surprises.
Lane (Patricia Hodge) is a workaholic doctor obsessed with cleanliness - she wears white and lives in a white house - but her hang-up is not enough to gloss over the cracks in her marriage to Charles (Oliver Cotton), a successful surgeon.
So it's not very convenient when her Brazilian maid Matilde (Natalia Tena), mourning the death of her parents, sinks into a depression brought on by cleaning Lane's house.
Then there's Lane's sister Virginia (Joanna McCallum), whose only pleasure in life is cleaning and is the first to
suspect that her handsome brother-in-law is having an affair when she secretly offers to help Matilde with the housework.
Finally, there's Charles' new love, the free-spirited Ana (Eleanor Bron), a cancer patient who wants to die laughing, like Matilde's mother.
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The audience acts as a
confidante to each of these richly-drawn characters who tell their stories with warmth, humour, thoughts and observations, slowly revealing how messy their lives really are.
Screens which describe scenes like stage directions are one of the play's quirky touches, while a clever use of the set allows a high-ceilinged living room to transform into a seaside balcony and figures moving along a track show a train of thought - I couldn't help thinking of Amelie, Bridget Jones' Diary and even the Monty Python funniest joke in the world' sketch.
An experienced cast of familiar names deliver a faultless
performance full of energy and enjoyment, with Natalia Tena deserving a special mention for her intelligent portrayal of a young woman struggling to find herself while remembering what her parents taught her.
Perceptive and poignant, The Clean House simply sparkles.
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