Distinguished playwright Paula Vogel (How I Learned to Drive) claims that theater has entered a "before and after" period with Sarah Ruhl. In the short time that she has been writing, Ruhl has garnered two Pulitzer Prize nominations - once for her 2009 play In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play), and the other forThe Clean House in 2004.
The Clean Housemade its Western New York premiere last Friday at the Road Less Traveled Theatre.
Director Derek Campbell said the play is "an extravagant comedy about dust," since it features four women with different attitudes towards cleanliness.
The plot primarily revolves around a housemaid Matilde (Victoria Perez), who lives to make the perfect joke. This distracts her from her housekeeping job for her employer, Lane (Christina Rausa). Lane's sister Virginia (Margaret Massman) is obsessed with cleanliness and she sees that Matilde does not enjoy cleaning her sister's house, so she does it for her while Matilde theorizes over the perfect joke.
"Dust is the big obstacle that [Matilde] has to overcome in order to realize her dream is to tell the perfect joke," Campbell said.
Campbell recognizes the touches of absurdity that are present within the play, but insists that one should not expect it to be an ode to realism. He added that there are elements of satirical and standup comedy, farce, dance and even a touch of Puccini to be found within the play.
"We are not in a realistic world; we are in a hyper-theatric environment," Campbell said.
The set designs and costume choices were perfectly in sync with one another: a strictly white and architecturally modern environment in Lane's home fit both her personality and position on life. She wore an all-white, sterile costume throughout the show. When splashes of color intruded upon this perfect world, either on Matilde's costume or a pair of provocative women's underwear, it began to feel foreign.
"I think my favorite part of the show was Matilde's sense of humor," said 26-year-old Lindsay Buzak, manager at the Elmwood Village's Globe Market."[Matilde] spends the duration of the play trying to come up with the perfect joke, but for me, her sense of humor was so matter-of-fact, that was so much more funny, because she wasn't trying to be."
What Buzak is referring to is Matilde's ability to see the humor in everything. At one point she makes a comment addressing complaints when the floor is dirty, "look at the ceiling, it is always clean."
What made the play so digestible for the audience was a perfect formula that addressedpoignant, serious subject matter, under the guise of lighthearted situational comedy along with sometimes. Themes such as loss, love and death were all within the play, but there was never a sense of emotional exhaustion. As opposed to crying, the audience was always laughing.
"I try to come to all of the RLTP shows," said 32-year-old Buffalo actor, Matthew Higgins. "They always choose super cool modern plays that are relevant to today. It's great to have a company so renowned as them in Buffalo."
The Clean Houseis the last play in RLTP's current season. This summer, the company will be putting together its first ever "Summer Institute" in July, which is dedicated to educatng new theatre artists aged 11-19.
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Photo: Jeremy Meyers
Photo: Courtesy of Swisher and Opalinski
