Family Weekend: a time for Brown students to take a break from their hectic studies, rehearsals, and club meetings to enjoy the convenient free shows and recitals presented specifically for the occasion.

The highlight of this weekend was PW’s quirky production of The Clean House by young New York playwright and Brown alum Sarah Ruhl. This Pulitzer Prize-nominated script chronicles the lives of Matilde—a free-spirited and delightful young housemaid/comedian who hates to clean just as much as she loves telling hilarious jokes—and the family for whom she cleans, surgeons Lane and Charles. Lane convinces herself that Matilde will not clean because she is depressed; Matilde, on the other hand, would much rather tell jokes in her native Portuguese and recall blithesome tales of her parents before they died than spend all day cleaning.  After a series of Portuguese jokes, the introduction of Lane’s obsessive-compulsive sister, and the discovery of red, lacy underpants in Charles’ laundry, Lane’s façade crumbles when she realizes that her husband has cheated on her with an elderly patient from the hospital where he works. Things go from bad to worse for Lane when, after she fires Matilde, Charles and his mistress abruptly decide to rehire her, symbolizing the further decay of all that Lane has worked for.

The Clean House is a true ensemble piece; no one character is more important than the next. In the PW production, each actor performed in a way that did not upstage or outshine his/her costars. One such example of a controlled performance was by Sakina Esufally, who played Matilde. What was most amusing about her performance was the fact that she avoided contrived emotions and bizarre punch lines—conventions that are seen too often in comedic plays. Instead, Esufally gave a genuine performance, receiving peals of laughter throughout the production. Yet she struck a serious chord with the audience by not milking her scenes for superficial jokes or punchline laughs—a sign of an actress who understands her character and the art of performance.

Abby Colella, who played the obsessive-compulsive sister named Virginia, took her comedic timing to the next level. Making character choices that may seem over the top, Colella knew when to push a joke forward and when to hold back, saving the essence of her build-up for when the audience would least expect it. When her character was first introduced, her mannerisms and the way she delivered her lines were a bit jarring; however, once her character was further developed, everything fit like a glove and her actions made sense.

Lily Mathews, who played Lane, Matilde and Virginia’s counterpart, was reminiscent of a film actress on stage. She allowed the audience to see her emotional demise throughout the course of the play rather than just reciting her lines and hoping that the spectators picked up on what was going on. She let her mind delve deep inside herself to find those true melancholy moments and brought them effortlessly onto the stage for all to see. That difficult task undoubtedly required an open mind and a performer not afraid to be vulnerable or expressive, which Mathews brilliantly accomplished.

Alex Kryger and Ivy Martinez rounded off the cast with their portrayals of Charles and Ana, Charles’s mistress. Both performance can be summed up in one word: sweet. The chemistry between these two performers felt genuine and real. Each time they embraced, which was quite often, there was a sense of authentic passion in the air that put smiles on the faces of audience members and warmed the hearts of many. Not only does it take a quality performance to translate real emotions onto the stage, but it also requires actors to become free with each other—to allow each actor to know a little something extra about their fellow cast members as a way to depict relatable emotions to an unsuspecting audience.

Director Emma Price took a tough and juicy play and made sense out of it. She answered the “whys”  and “hows” that the playwright left up for interpretation and made the script work for her performers, which ultimately rewarded the audience with a successful and intimate production.

Rating: Three and a half witty Portuguese jokes out of four!