The Theatre Sarnia production won the Western Ontario Drama League (WODL) Festival as Best Production. Lane doesn't know how to react, though she is clearly upset and bitter about the turn of events. And yet thanks to the alchemical imagination of Sarah Ruhl, the gifted author of “The Clean House,” this strange grab bag of ideas and images, … Sarah Ruhl's "The Clean House" is a rich, ruminative work about the big themes of love, life and death from a young playwright with an original and audacious voice. A balcony. They are places for human waste. Hilton Als, in The New Yorker, wrote of the "lazy romanticism about the proletariat, for whom she seems to have no real feeling at all. Nurse—would you polish the silver, please. I don’t like to order people around. Matilde and Ana converse in Portuguese and Spanish on Ana's balcony, eating apples and throwing them into the 'sea,' which also happens to be Lane's living room. While at Ana's home, Lane examines Ana with an air of coldness before breaking down and yelling at her for making Charles love her in a way he never loved Lane. I like the simplicity of the comedy …  And—in the meantime—I’ve been cleaning my house! June 28 – October 22, 2018. Two of her plays have been finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and she received a nomination for Tony Award for Be… Sarah Ruhl's The Clean House is on its way to becoming one of America's most produced plays this season -- in addition to this fall's expected Broadway engagement at … LANE: Lane allows Ana to move in with her while Charles is away. If you do not clean: how do you know if you’ve made any progress in life? MATILDE: This is how I imagine my parents. We took her to the hospital and I had her medicated and she Still Wouldn’t Clean. I don’t—always--understand the arts. Matilde comes out first, telling an elaborate joke in Portuguese, without translation. This is difficult for me. That’s very interesting. I’ve always wondered how one hospital can be more important than another hospital. In the first Act she plays Matilde’s mother. While Lane is at work, Virginia comes to visit Matilde, having heard about her depression. She does not know how long it takes the dust to accumulate under her bed. If there were no dust to clean then there would be so much leisure time and so much thinking time and I would have to do something besides thinking and that thing might be to slit my wrists. I know when there is dust on the mirror. She has been the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award for a distinguished American playwright in mid-career. I really enjoyed Clean House! See all … Ruhl's writing is easy to follow, and I love the simplicity of her writing. And she wouldn’t! A serious career-oriented doctor, Lane, has hired a quirky Brazilian maid. The play was produced at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England in April 2006, (European Premiere) and at Northampton's Royal & Derngate theatres in February 2008 and then on a UK tour. You know—jokes. «     Matilde. I was a student. The play is a whimsical romantic comedy centered on Matilde, a Brazilian cleaning woman who would rather be a comedienne. Next Lane, a doctor in her 50s, explains that Matilde, her Brazilian maid, is depressed and has been failing to clean her house and so she had her medicated. Lane fires Matilde. This allowed them to compete at the provincial level, where they won "Outstanding Festival Production" at the Theatre Ontario Festival (2015). People who give up the privilege of cleaning their own houses—they’re insane people.Â. You sound like a very interesting woman. Eurydice. The Clean House and Other Plays - Ebook written by Sarah Ruhl. by Sarah Ruhl. Lane deduces that Virginia has been cleaning the house instead of Matilde. But if I were to die at any moment during the day, no one would have to clean my kitchen. "[14] At the end of 2006, Entertainment Weekly magazine named the New York production one of the top ten theatrical attractions of the year. You’re right. Both actors revived these roles for Northampton and UK tour, directed by John Dove. Instead, she longs to be a comedienne. Available for purchase and/or licensing at: I studied humor. Matilde reluctantly agrees. Virginia, Lane’s sister, a woman in her late fifties. My parents were the funniest people in Brazil And then they died. They argued, they said she choked on her own spit, but they don’t really know. The blue background you see is a close-up of a tile from a production of Eurydice at Second Stage,  I’m sorry, but I did not go to medical school to clean my own house. The play premiered Off-Broadway at Lincoln Center's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater on October 29, 2006 in a limited run to January 28, 2007. My cleaning lady—from Brazil—decided that she was depressed one day and stopped cleaning my house. She wears black.  She is Brazilian. A compassionate surgeon. If it were not for dust I think I would die. It was awarded the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2004, was a 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist, and has been produced at major theatres nationwide. Ana and Charles transform back into her parents and there is a moment of completion between the three of them. Matilde watches. Matilde gets out silver polish and begins polishing. The Clean House won the 2004 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize,[1] awarded annually to the best English-language play written by a woman. Clean House is the first and my favorite. She is impossibly charismatic. ... Sarah Ruhl reimagines the classic ... Quickview. The next morning, she tells Ana her perfect joke. Â. THE CLEAN HOUSE was produced at the Goodman Theatre (Robert Falls, Artistic Director; Roche Schulfer, Executive Director) in Chicago on May 9, 2006. Portland Stage Company presents The Clean House by Sarah Ruhl, September 24 - October 13, 2019. And the jokes would really work better in English. They kiss until kissing makes them laugh. In his review of The Clean House, by Sarah Ruhl, Hilton Als argues that Sarah Ruhl is being ignorant in her portrayal of Matilde, the maid in The Clean House. The Clean House By Sarah Ruhl 2. And I don’t want an interesting person to clean my house. Virginia says a prayer over the body. It was said that my father was the funniest man in his village. Among her most popular plays are Eurydice (2003), The Clean House (2004), and In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play) (2009). Page 1 of 9     My mother was old for a mother. eNotes plot summaries cover all the significant action of The Clean House. Amazon.com The Drama Bookshop Samuel French. Ana and Charles fight over her going back to the hospital. Soon, Matilde arrives back at Lane's home with news that Ana's cancer has come back and that she refuses to go to a hospital. Award winning playwright Sarah Ruhl reminds us what’s important in life, and that humor and beauty still enchant in the most unlikely places. This funky comedy comfortably resides at B Street Theatre, home of eccentric new works. I love dust. Charles performs surgery on Ana and then they act out the scene where they meet for the first time and fall in love in a matter of moments. The play has been produced in many regional theaters, such as at the South Coast Repertory in its West Coast premiere from January 29, 2005 to February 27;[3] “The Clean House” was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2005 and is one of Sarah Ruhl’s most beloved plays. We touched briefly on Ruhl in my Theatre class and for a class or two in my playwriting class. Matilde manages to convince Lane to visit Ana in a medical capacity. The two women share a moment, and Lane manages to forgive Ana. The Clean House is a play by Sarah Ruhl. Her stage directions are also great, something that Ruhl is famous for. I understand that you have a life, an emotional life—and that you are also my cleaning lady. No, it’s just that—I don’t like giving orders in my own home. We can tell she is telling a joke even though we might not understand the language. —Sarah Ruhl and her plays remind us to be ten once more and play, to wonder if stones have thoughts as in Eurydice, if cell phones are portals to the afterlife as in Dead Man’s Cell Phone, and if jokes in other languages were funny enough to kill you as in The Clean House. Right before Matilde's departure, she sees Lane's imagined idea of Charles and his lover. We have never been apart since the day we met, because I always wanted to know the next joke.Â, My mother and father did not look into each other’s eyes. MATILDE: She is Argentinean. Sarah Ruhl’s The Clean House feels like it’s been thoroughly scrubbed of human ambiguity. We took her to the hospital and I had her medicated and she Still Wouldn’t Clean. She tries to laugh, but just ends up crying. Then my parents died, making me the first funniest. Lane, taking her aggression out on Ana, argues that she relies on Matilde and couldn't bear to part with her. $20.00. Ana and Matilde are agents of change, and after encountering them Lane and Virginia will never be the same. Peter Marks, reviewing the 2005 Woolly Mammoth Theatre (Washington, DC) production, wrote: "As with most original voices, it takes a while to tune into Ruhl's wavelength. Don’t misunderstand me—I’m an educated woman. She tells them that Charles, frantic for his lover's health, has gone to Alaska to cut down a Yew tree, which supposedly has healing powers. Sarah Ruhl received the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2004 for her play The Clean House, which has been produced at Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, Wilma Theatre in Philadelphia, South Coast Repertory Theatre in Costa Mesa, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, DC. For the television show, see, "Ruhl Rules as World Premiere Comedy 'Clean House' Opens at Yale Rep, Sept. 23", "Ruhl's Popular The Clean House Opens Oct. 30 at Lincoln Center Theater", "Theater Review. This number may be changed from production to production if need be. They dance. She was laughing at one of my father’s jokes. While standing alone on Ana's balcony, Matilde discovers her 'perfect joke' and realizes that it did not kill her after all. Matilde watches as the two react to Ana's illness in their separate ways. This article is about the play. Read this book using Google Play Books app on your PC, android, iOS devices. Other international productions include: The Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury (2008); the Espace Libre theatre (Montreal) in French (2008); Circa Theatre, Wellington, New Zealand (2009). MATILDE: A romantic comedy about loss, love, change and redemption, The Clean House is both whimsical and touching. Charles, Ana, and Matilde leave to go apple picking. They laugh until laughing makes them kiss. Matilde tells a long joke in Portuguese to the audience. The act ends with Charles calling to Lane from offstage. She refused many proposals. ", The Clean House had its world premiere at the Yale Repertory Theatre, Connecticut, from September 17 to October 9, 2004, directed by Bill Rauch.[1][2]. I was like: clean my house! Not knowing what to do with herself, Matilde came to America to clean this house. They are not the best dancers in the world. She exits. Lane meets him at the door, where she lets him know what happened and forgives him. Lane enters. My sister is a wonderful person. Then I remove the dust. Matilde is looking out the window. A doctor does not say: Nurse—would you polish the silver, please. Posted by marlenaeckel December 25, 2019 March 13, 2020 Posted in Comedy, Medium, Men, Monologue, Short, Women Tags: Monologue, Monologues, Theatre. Matilde ends the play imagining her mother laughing as she gave birth to her. LANE: Everyone in this play should be able to tell a really good joke. It is a romantic comedy about a Brazilian cleaning woman, named Matilde, who wants to become a comedian. Lane watches her for a moment, then exits. Even when they made love they laughed like hyenas. Nurse: polish the silver. Charles tells Lane that Ana is his Bashert (soul mate) and that, according to Jewish law (although neither he nor Lane is Jewish), this means that their marriage is dissolved. The only problem is that the maid, Matilde, hates to clean. Charles, Lane’s husband, a man in his fifties. And while I can't say Theatre Memphis' production of Sarah Ruhl's The Clean House "kills," exactly, it may stab you in the heart repeatedly with a scalpel. Or, a house that is not far from the city and not far from the sea. MATILDE: Matilde finally comes back to tell the audience, this time in English, about how her parents, both wonderful comedians, recently died. A metaphysical Connecticut. item 6 The Clean House by Ruhl, Sarah (Paperback) - The Clean House by Ruhl, Sarah (Paperback) $14.95 +$3.99 shipping. My mother died last year. Their suspicions are confirmed when Lane tells them that Charles has left her for an older woman named Ana, a patient of his who had breast cancer and is now recovering from a mastectomy. The Clean House is a play by Sarah Ruhl, which premiered in 2004 at Yale Repertory Theatre, was produced Off-Broadway in 2006, and has since been produced in many theaters. Sarah Ruhl, the author of “Eurydice” and “The Clean House.” Credit... Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times The play was a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Matilde, Lane’s cleaning lady, a woman in her late twenties.She wears black. It is here that Charles returns with his tree. This book contains four plays by the talented Sarah Ruhl. She has a refined sense of deadpan. It is about a husband who is a doctor and falls in love with his patient. The Clean House - PDA Presentation 1. The doctors couldn’t explain it. Three characters address the audience. I’ve never had a live-in maid. White couch, white vase, white lamp, white rug. At an important hospital. That is progress. All of these things, she fails to know. The play is a whimsical romantic comedy centered on Matilde, a Brazilian cleaning woman who would rather be a comedienne. Sarah Ruhl (born January 24, 1974) is an American playwright, professor, and essayist. I’m not a morbid person. They laugh until laughing makes them kiss. He said he would wait until he met his match in wit.Â, And then one day he met my mother. She’s a doctor. Matilde and Virginia discover panties in Lane's laundry that look too sexy for her and begin suspecting her husband Charles, also a doctor, is cheating on her. The story of my parents is this. And so I came here, to clean this house. Ana's condition, however, quickly worsens, and unwilling to have cancer beat her, she asks Matilde to kill her with a joke. VIRGINIA: A romantic comedy about loss, love, change and redemption, The Clean House is both whimsical and touching. The Clean House. If I met you at—say—a party—and you said, I am from a small village in Brazil, and my parents were comedians, I would say: that’s very interesting. Matilde, now being fought over by the two women, decides to split her time between both of their houses. Ana, a woman who is older than Lane*. ». When my mother died laughing, my father shot himself. Paperback (New Edition) $ 10.95. And I have met you in the context of my house, where I have hired you to clean. The play's action happens among the women.  *Ana is named as sixty-seven within the dialogue. To be childish, to be childlike — to be ten! Sarah Ruhl 2003-2004 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Winner, 2005 Pulitzer Prize in Drama Finalist. by Sarah Ruhl Romantic Comedy – The whimsical tale of a Brazilian maid who would rather be a comedian. Would you please clean the bathroom when you get a chance?Â. There was no one left to laugh at my jokes, so I left. He used to say: your mother—and he would take a long pause— (Matilde takes a long pause)—is funnier than I am. I want you to do all the things I want you to do without my having to tell you. It makes me--uncomfortable. Charles wants her to fight her cancer more aggressively, with Ana refusing to subject herself to more hospitals. Winner of the 2004 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and a Pulitzer finalist, The Clean House reminds us that there is humor and beauty to be found in life’s most unlikely messes. They kiss until kissing makes them laugh.Â. The man's function is to fall in … Is there anything more fulfilling than finally getting your house truly, deeply clean? LANE: "[13] Other publications, such as The Village Voice and The New Yorker[14] were more critical, writing about the play's style and its treatment of Matilde. The play was a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play then deposits the characters back to where act 1 ended, as Ana and Charles are let into the house awkwardly. MATILDE: Conflict and comedy weave a whimsical tale about cleaning, relationships and finding the perfect apple. They are dancing. Ruhl’s The Clean House is honestly one of my favorite pieces of contemporary theatre. Virginia then enters to tell the two that Charles and Ana are at the door. I wear black because I am in mourning. Do you tell the nurses at the hospital what to do? He asks her to wait as he learns to fly a plane himself. She tries to tell Lane a joke, but as it is in Portuguese, Lane can't understand it. And—in the meantime—I’ve been cleaning my house! Complete summary of Sarah Ruhl's The Clean House. As Matilde whispers in Ana's ear, beautiful music plays over the audience and Ana laughs until she dies in Matilde's arms. That just popped out! The director, Joanne Gordon, noted that Ruhl "...presents a female perspective with wit, with humor, with subtlety, and the element which I enjoy so much about her work... it possess that kind of Latin magic - realism."[9]. In the first Act, Charles plays Matilde’s father. I’m being serious too. A romantic comedy about loss, love, change and redemption, The Clean House is both whimsical and touching. The play was a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.[15][16]. LANE: directed by Les Waters and designed by Scott Bradley. MATILDE: Once connected, though, you commune warmly with her funny and compassionate sense of life's metamorphosing rewards and punishments. He hands her the tree as he goes to approach the body. What is it about? It would kill her, she said, to have to spend her days laughing at jokes that were not funny.Â. A serious career-oriented doctor, Lane, has hired a quirky Brazilian maid. Matilde has come full circle with her parents, from death back to birth, finding finality and closure in the moment. The Sheffield production featured Patricia Hodge (Lane) and Eleanor Bron (Ana/Mathilde's mother). Playwright Sarah Ruhl constructs The Clean House in an intriguing way. Winner of the 2003-2004 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Winner, and 2005 Pulitzer Prize in Drama Finalist. Listen. As time passes, Charles sends a telegram, telling Ana that he has found a tree, but cannot get it onto a plane. She wears white. 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