A capable new production of “The Clean House” reinforces the Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company’s status as a rising local company to be taken seriously. But some things are missing in the 4-year-old troupe’s staging of Sarah Ruhl’s metaphysical modern comedy.
The most obvious, to anyone who saw the Denver Center’s 2006 version: actors Jamie Horton, Caitlin O’Connell, Charlotte Booker and Romi Dias. More specifically: that production’s (scripted) projected supertitles. More ephemerally: the fantastical flights of fancy. The escalating fluidity between time and space. The emotional catharsis.
In short: the magic. Minus all that, the play comes off like an unbloomed flower: pretty, but its potential and full glory not yet realized.
If you saw the first version, you might even leave the second questioning whether Ruhl’s play was as good as you were once sure it was. A few theatergoers exited Saturday whispering the word “interesting,” which is nice-people code for “I don’t get it.” At times, it seemed as if the actors didn’t fully get it, either.
The story is simple enough to follow: We begin in a seaside Connecticut town with a Brazilian maid telling us an elaborate joke, in Portuguese. Our delight comes not from understanding Matilde’s words but in Jamie Ann Romero’s adorable physical delivery of them.
Matilde hates to clean and dreams instead of inventing the perfect joke as homage to her late parents, who were considered the funniest people in Brazil. But she also fears that to accomplish her task might kill her — a perfect metaphor for the elusive pursuit of happiness.
Matilde works for an uptight WASP doctor named Lane who keeps her house in bright white, from the paintings on her wall to her underwear. Lane’s sweet sister Virginia is a compulsive clean freak who happily does the maid’s work for her. In this world, cleanliness is next to not godliness but sterility, constriction, death. White is a state of dull nothingness.
But life — and love — are colorful, cluttered and dirty. And into the life of Lane’s doctor husband comes a burst of color: Charles leaves Lane for a dying but vibrant, 67-year-old Argentine cancer patient named Ana.
The play presents itself as an ordinary living-room comedy that in short order turns theatrical convention on its head. Apples tossed from a balcony turn to soft balloons that land not in the sea but in Lane’s own living room (thanks to Tina Anderson’s sleek, rectangular set, which faces the audience on just two sides).
It doesn’t take expensive production values to convey the presence of magic, but it does require a complete sense of abandon in the cast. Director Rebecca Remaly’s actors don’t all exude total confidence, though, which makes it difficult for the ensemble to build sustained momentum.
The exception is Romero, who infuses the orphan Matilde with a sense of childlike naturalness. Bob Buckley brings nice energy as Charles, though he never seems fully connected to the play taking place around him. That’s because there’s a timidity to the women playing the powerhouse roles of Lane, Virginia and Ana. Lane, particularly, offers the possibility of a colossal arc from rigid doctor to compassionate caregiver, but here the arc traverses a much smaller trajectory.
Sherri Davis’ quirky Virginia really picks up swagger as we go along, but the casting of Suzanne Morales as Ana is visually confusing. She’s written to be an unremarkable-looking senior citizen, but she’s played here by a beautiful actress who’s easily 30 years Buckley’s junior.
“The Clean House” is still a lovely, loaded play about healing; about making way for the big things that barge into our lives unannounced, like love, sickness and death. It’s about embracing the chaos, making a mess and accepting that life is not ordered or clean.
Kind of like this staging.
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
“The Clean House” **1/2 (out of four stars)
Presented by the Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company at the Dairy Center for the Arts, 2590 Walnut St. Written by Sarah Ruhl. Directed by Rebecca Remaly. Through April 17. 2 hours. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 4 p.m. Sundays. $22 (2-for-1 Thursdays). 303-444-7328 or
This weekend’s other theater openings
“The Child” Magic Moments’ annual, all-comers musical revue featuring up to 250 special-needs and able-bodied performers. This year, the story plays out between a veteran and a child who have lost all hope of ever being loved. Songs are taken from Lady GaGa, U2, Little Feat, Broadway musicals and more. Through Sunday. At Cherry Creek High School, 9300 E. Union Ave., Greenwood Village, 303-607-7555 or
“Daddy’s Girl” Gary Ray Stapp’s comedy puts together a mischievous angel, a grouchy diner owner, a talking portrait, a ditsy waitress, a snobby restaurant critic and more. Through April 18. Presented by Fremont Civic Theatre at the Washington School, Ninth Street and College Avenue, Cañon City, 719-429-7719 or fremontcivic
“Greater Tuna” Welcome to Texas’ third- smallest town, where the Lions club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never dies. Two actors play the 24 residents of Tuna, offering a humorous look at small-town life. Through May 1. Presented by the Colorado Stage Company at the Lone Tree Golf Club, 9808 Sunningdale Blvd., 303-471-8171 or
“Hamlet” and “Tartuffe” The National Theatre Conservatory’s graduating masters students perform both plays in repertory. See story, Through April 24. Conservatory Theatre, 14th and Curtis streets, 303-893-4100 or
“Mariela in the Desert” A young painter returns home to the Mexican desert to reconcile with her dying artist father. Playwright Karen Zacarías won the National Latino Playwriting Award for this play. Through May 15. Denver Center Theatre Company at the Ricketson Theatre, 14th and Curtis streets, 303-893-4100 or
“Oleanna” David Mamet’s highly charged confrontation between a college professor and a failing student who files sexual harassment charges against him. Through May 8. Presented by the Firehouse Theatre Company at the John Hand Theatre, 7653 E. 1st Place, 303-562-3232 or
“The Rainmaker” N. Richard Nash’s Depression- era tale finds finds the Curry family desperate for rain and a suitor for daughter Lizzie, a discouraged wallflower her brothers have resigned to a spinsterly future. When a slick salesman named Starbuck comes to town with the promise of rain (for a price), Lizzie’s father pays as much for a few days of hope as he does for rain. Starring Karen Slack, Tupper Cullum and Paul Borrillo. Through May 9. Aurora Fox, 9900 E. Colfax Ave., 303-739-1970 or
“The Secret Garden” This musical, based on the children’s novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, is about a young orphan sent to live with her uncle and discovers the treasures of a magical, locked garden. Through April 17. Curtains Up, 3900 W. 32nd Ave., 720-308-2920 or
“What the Bellhop Saw” Comic farce about a mild-mannered young man whose indiscretion in an expensive New York hotel quickly, and absurdly, spins out of control. Through April 25. Arvada Festival Playhouse, 5665 Olde Wadsworth Blvd., 303-422-4090 or
“Yo Ho Ho and a Barrel of Fun” Comic farce about a mild-mannered young man whose indiscretion in an expensive New York hotel quickly, and absurdly, spins out of control. Through Sept. 25. Iron Springs Chateau, 444 Ruxton Ave., Manitou Springs, 719-685-510, or more information
Complete theater listings
Go to our complete list of in Colorado, including summaries, run dates, addresses, phones and links to every company’s home page. Or check out our listings or
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