{"id":18428,"date":"2015-05-26T00:27:01","date_gmt":"2015-05-26T07:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=18428"},"modified":"2015-05-26T14:04:21","modified_gmt":"2015-05-26T21:04:21","slug":"the-clean-house-at-rvp-scores-as-best-play-of-85th-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/the-clean-house-at-rvp-scores-as-best-play-of-85th-season\/","title":{"rendered":"THE CLEAN HOUSE at RVP Scores As Best Play of 85th Season!"},"content":{"rendered":"

With thanks to expert Playwright Sarah Ruhl<\/span><\/strong> and the artistic talent of Director <\/span>JoAnne Winter<\/span><\/strong> (Co-Founder and Director of Word for Word Performing Arts Company ), and Set Designer <\/span>David Shirk<\/span><\/strong>\u2019s Academy Award-winning (Visual Effects) design experience, as well as a talented cast, <\/span>The Clean House<\/span><\/em><\/strong> is a big hit!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A 2005 Pulitzer-Prize-finalist, The Clean House<\/span><\/em><\/strong>, is a comic drama that mixes fantasy and reality as it tells the story of five dissimilar people.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Throughout the play, the actors address the audience to talk about themselves or imagine situations involving other characters. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>The play opens with three characters coming out to address the audience. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Matilda (<\/span>Livia Demarchi<\/span><\/strong>) comes out first, with a tantalizing untranslated joke told with an exuberance that transmits a fair amount of its humor. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>As we learn, she is from Brazil.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Some of the jokes and comments are translated for the audience on a projection screen at the back wall of David Shirk\u2019s elegant white set, which also includes a small stage behind a painting which is lifted to enact Matilda\u2019s description of her parents.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Matilda tells us in her long opening monologue that when she\u2019s not thinking of jokes she gets depressed, and, when she get depressed, she doesn\u2019t like to clean.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Next, Lane (Sylvia Burboeck<\/span><\/strong>), a doctor in her 50s, comes out to explain that Matilda, her Brazilian maid, is depressed and has been failing to clean her house.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>She is followed by Virginia (<\/span>Tamar Cohn<\/span><\/strong>), Lane\u2019s older sister, a housewife who argues that people who do not clean their own homes are \u201cinsane.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Virginia persuades Matilda to let her clean her sister\u2019s house on the sly, thereby setting in motion a series of events that gradually re-orders and deepens the relationships among the play\u2019s other characters, who include Lane\u2019s husband Charles (Steve Price<\/span><\/strong>), a surgeon, and his new mistress Ana (<\/span>Sumi Narendran<\/span><\/strong>), on whom he recently performed a mastectomy, just after instantly falling in love with her during a breast consultation.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Clean House<\/strong><\/em> is a play that keeps revealing surprising secrets and layers of rich feelings as it goes along.\u00a0 <\/span>Director JoAnne Winter blends its contrasting tones with subtle precision. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Her cast displays a keen understanding of Sarah Ruhl\u2019s ability to see the absurdity in extremes of emotions with authenticity. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>We may never come to a full understanding of the jokes life plays on us, but the wisest and possibly noblest response is to have a good laugh, anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Clean House will run through Sunday, June 14th<\/span><\/sup>. <\/span>Thursday shows are at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.; Sunday Matinees at 2:00 p.m. All performances are at the Barn and Theatre, home of the Ross Valley Players, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., in Ross. To order tickets, call 415-456-9555, ext. 1 or online at www.RossValleyPlayers.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Coming up next at the Ross Valley Players will be Gilbert & S<\/span>ullivan’s<\/span><\/em> The Pirates of Penzance<\/span><\/em><\/strong>,\u00a0 from July 17 through August 15, 2015, directed by James Dunn.<\/p>\n

Flora Lynn Isaacson<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Photos by Ross Valley Players<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With thanks to expert Playwright Sarah Ruhl and the artistic talent of Director JoAnne Winter (Co-Founder and Director of Word for Word Performing Arts Company ), and Set Designer David…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":18505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[621,490],"class_list":{"0":"post-18428","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-flora-lynn-isaacson","8":"tag-marin","9":"tag-north-bay"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"