“THE CLEAN HOUSE”: Performances are underway for “The Clean House.” Presented by Shakespeare 70 and Kelsey Theatre, and directed by Janet Quartarone with the assistance of Maggie Gronenthal, the play runs through January 26 at Kelsey Theatre. Above, from left: Lane (Laura McWater), a physician, faces a devastating revelation brought about by the actions of her sister Virginia (Laurie Hardy); her husband Charles (Stan Cahill); the mysterious Ana (Jaqueline Booth); and her cleaning lady, Matilde (Lisbeth Burgos), who wants to invent the funniest joke in the world. (Photo by Jake Burbage)

By Donald H. Sanborn III

Kelsey Theatre is continuing its “Season of Transformations” with The Clean House. Sarah Ruhl’s quirky, bittersweet comedy depicts a married couple — both of whom are physicians — whose Brazilian housekeeper hates to clean house, and dreams of inventing “the funniest joke in the world.”

An arrangement is made whereby the sister of one of the doctors will do the housekeeper’s job of cleaning the couple’s home. This leads to a discovery that upends the couple’s marriage, and necessitates complicated choices and self-examination.

In shows produced by Kelsey earlier this season, the transformation often has been brought about by supernatural elements: a mysterious time loop in Groundhog Day, or fairytale magic in Beauty and the Beast. By contrast, The Clean House presents a transformation that results from a confluence of circumstances that are unusual (and perhaps unlikely), but entirely natural and human.

When The Clean House bends realism, it is to make a poetic statement about the extent to which one person’s actions can be felt by another, sometimes subconsciously or in unexpected ways.

Taking cues from Ruhl’s script, Director Janet Quartarone and Assistant Director Maggie Gronenthal — aided by Dale Simon’s lighting — make copious and effective use of split scenes. In one of these, an object that is thrown in one home lands in another.

These split scenes are an aspect of the play in which Quartarone’s smooth staging particularly shines, giving us heightened insight into the characters, as well as some lovely, tableaux. Quartarone also knows how to use physical distance between characters to convey emotional distance.

The play’s 2004 premiere at Yale Repertory Theatre was followed by a 2006 off-Broadway production at Lincoln Center Theatre. The Clean House is a 2005 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Drama.

Matilde, the housekeeper (portrayed by Lisbeth Burgos), opens the play by telling a lengthy joke in Portuguese; this is never translated. In her own monologue, Lane, one of the physicians (Laura McWater), tells the audience that Matilde’s depression prevents her from housecleaning, so she has prescribed drugs for her.

In yet another monologue Lane’s sister Virginia (Laurie Hardy) opines that people who refuse to clean their own houses are insane. Now speaking English, Matilde delivers a second monologue about her personal history. Having recently lost her parents, both of whom were comedians, Matilde has come to America.

While Lane is at work, Virginia — who happens to love housework — offers to clean the house for Matilde, who accepts. While sorting through laundry, Virginia makes a discovery that indicates that Lane’s husband, Charles (Stan Cahill), is having an affair.

The other woman in Charles’ life is Ana (Jacqueline Booth), a cancer patient of his who is recovering from a mastectomy. Charles tells Lane that Ana is his “bashert” (soul mate). Although neither Charles nor Lane is Jewish, Charles posits that a Jewish law requires the dissolution of his marriage to Lane.

This past November, a Theatre Intime production of another Ruhl play, Eurydice, was reviewed in these pages. Both plays use the device of dual casting. In The Clean House Matilde’s parents are portrayed, in flashback, by the actors who play Ana and Charles. Booth and Cahill’s (nonverbal) performances for these sequences are graceful and almost ballet-like.

As Matilde tells us about her parents, they mime their actions. Ruhl is adept both at writing strong dialogue and letting movement convey information.

Matilde and Ana form an immediate bond. Ana offers Matilde — who Lane has fired upon learning about the arrangement with Virginia — a job cleaning her home.

Eventually, Ana’s cancer returns, necessitating some painful choices by multiple characters. As Matilde comes to a realization about her search for the perfect joke, Ana asks her for a special favor.

Lane, too, must make a crucial decision, one that will require her to overcome her (understandable) anger at Ana and Charles. As such, the primary transformation of this show is Lane’s.

Fortunately, McWater clearly understands that transformation. Using both standoffish body language and barbed line delivery, McWater depicts Lane as a doctor who has plenty of medical knowledge but limited emotional skills. She seems to neither know, nor particularly care, how to form a real connection with her sister and husband, let alone her maid.

As Lane’s orderly world falls apart around her, McWater lets us see her brusque authority (laced with slight but palpable disdain) give way to pain and frustration. Later, when we hear Lane have a conversation of which we probably would not have believed her to be capable earlier in the play, McWater makes the character’s evolution convincing and satisfying, letting Lane emotionally connect without losing her steeliness.

Hardy’s Virginia is an excellent foil to McWater’s Lane. Where McWater’s staccato movements keep other characters at (often literal) arm’s length, Hardy’s body language is smooth and invites engagement. In similar contrast to McWater’s abrupt line deliveries for Lane, Hardy’s tone of voice is generally warm and unassuming. Hardy and McWater are particularly entertaining in scenes in which Lane and Virginia argue.

Although McWater has to convey the biggest transformation of the show, Cahill and Booth have a task that, arguably, is equally challenging: helping the audience condone the affair — an eyebrow-raising liaison involving a doctor and a patient — between the philandering Charles and the ostensible home wrecker Ana, so that we sympathize with Ana’s plight.

Cahill and Booth accomplish this in two ways: making their characters thoroughly likeable, and having the strong chemistry to convince us that the connection between their characters is grounded not (just) in temporary passion, but in genuine, deeply felt, love. This palpable chemistry also benefits their portrayal of Matilde’s parents.

Cahill depicts Charles as an affable, self-effacing man who convincingly understands and regrets the pain his actions are causing Lane, and is struggling to come to terms with his own actions and newfound relationship.

Booth portrays Ana as a woman of deep spiritual awareness and determined inner strength that belie the character’s physical pain. Booth’s performance is characterized by deliberate speech that is warm, smooth, and gentle — but always resolutely impassioned.

Burgos is winning as Matilde, the relative outsider to all of the family drama. A housekeeper’s refusal to do her job might test our patience; but Burgos makes her fond memories of her parents, and her resulting quest for the perfect joke, almost spiritual in nature. Burgos successfully balances Matidle’s impish and contemplative sides, and her performances with Hardy and Booth convey the character’s immediate bond with, respectively, Virginia and Ana.

Scenic Artist Angelica Froio sparsely furnishes Lane’s living room to match the character’s brusque, clinical personality: pristine white walls, with a sofa to match. Costume Consultant Jennifer Boutros supports this, outfitting Lane in a white shirt. Notably, Virginia and Charles (both of whom are more affable and better at emotional connection) wear dark blue.

The sound design by Chris Loos helps establish the setting for scenes in which a desperate search for a cure for Ana takes him to Alaska. Foos also enhances the show’s atmosphere by underscoring it with smooth, lively recordings by Brazilian composer and guitarist Domingo Semenzato, along with Astrud Gilberto, João Gilberto and Stan Getz, and Pink Martini, among other artists.

A notable musical selection heard during the show is “Que Sera Sera” (performed by Billianne). “Whatever will be will be — the future’s not ours to see,” the lyrics advise us. This aptly sums up a theme of the play; life, especially goals and relationships, cannot be arranged neatly, in the way that Lane organizes her living room.

That is the key irony of the play’s title. Characters discover that the inhabitants of a clean house have messy, complicated lives. As Kelsey’s moving, polished production of The Clean House demonstrates, that discovery can yield wonderful theater.

“The Clean House” will play at the Kelsey Theatre at Mercer County Community College, 1200 Old Trenton Road in West Windsor, through January 26. For tickets, show times, and more information call (609) 570-3333 or visit kelsey.mccc.edu..