19:00, Tue 6th – Sat 10th March 2018 at Corpus Playroom
Lent Week 7

"I think heaven is a sea of untranslatable jokes, except everyone is laughing."

‘The Clean House’ is a whimsical romantic comedy centred on Matilde, a Brazilian cleaning woman who would rather be a comedian. She has come to America after the death of both her parents, but is too depressed to clean, and only dreams of creating the perfect joke. Surrounding Matilde is a cast of tenderly drawn, eccentric characters: her high-powered employers, the married doctors Lane and Charles; Virginia: compulsive cleaner, neurotic, and sister of Lane; and Ana, Charles’ Argentinian breast cancer patient, who he falls in love with and leaves his wife for. This trilingual play deals with questions of what makes for: the perfect joke, a fulfilling purpose, a soul mate, and a satisfactory death. Moreover, it addresses the struggles of being isolated from your own culture, and pursuing your dreams in an unsympathetic setting.

This is a fresh production of a play which incorporates elements of music, dance, projections and other media; creating spectacle, naturalising elements of the supernatural, without compromising the emotional or psychological integrity of the characters. We aim to celebrate the cultures of our Latin American characters through our multi-media and moments of Portuguese and Spanish dialogue, and use this as an opportunity for authentic representation.