The Clean House

December 4, 5, 6*, 2015 (Fri, Sat, Sun*) December 10, 11, 12, 2015 (Thu, Fri, Sat) Matilde tells an elaborate joke in Portuguese without translation. 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. Virginia, Lane's older sister, a housewife, argues that people who do not clean their own homes are insane. Trouble comes when Lane's husband, Charles, reveals that he has found his soul mate in a cancer patient named Ana, on whom he has operated. When Ana becomes ill again, Charles travels to Alaska to look for a tree whose properties might cure her. Lane takes Ana to her home and cares for her. Ana knows she is dying and wants to go before Charles returns. Matilde thinks up the perfect joke and whispers it into her ear. Ana laughs and the joke gently kills her, giving new meaning to the phrase, "I almost died laughing." "Fresh, funny ... a memorable play, imbued with a melancholy but somehow comforting philosophy: that the messes and disappointments of life are as much a part of its beauty as romantic love and chocolate ice cream, and a perfect punch line can be as sublime as the most wrenchingly lovely aria." - The New York Times . "The Clean House" is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.