The most wrenchingly lovely aria: Ruhl’s “The Clean House” rocks…don’t miss it!

Chetana creates a compelling "Ana" in "The Clean House"...she greets Krista's daughter Ula after last night's show.

Last night Josie & I got a chance to drop in on opening night for Island Stage Left’s The Clean House, staged at the 4-H Building at the Fairgrounds…it was excellent.

That reminds me a joke:

Play director: “Would you tell me your opinion of the play?”
Drama critic: “It’s worthless.”
Play director: “I know, but what did you think of the play?”

Anyway – last night’s show was funny & sad, intense as a Brazilian football match but as easy-flowing as a samba, & will probably make you want to vacuum your own place when you’re done. It’ll make you glad you know “chiste” is the Portuguese word for “joke,” and glad you didn’t choose white as the main (no, only!) color for your living room. Any play that works in Alaska & the beach & Brazil & the City in the present & overlays it with memory and feeling is a winner.

Like Matilde in the show says, “If the floor is dirty, look at the ceiling.”

It’s great to see the ISL actors really stretch themselves in this one…

All of what I just said will make sense when you see the show. The play runs from now till May 9 (check here for dates & times). The cast (Ashley Flannegan, Joan Benney, Krista Strutz, Chetana Michaan, and Dan Mayes) have created characters that’ll be stuck in your head & heart for a while…you’ll see.

I found this bit from the New York Times, which makes me think they went to last night’s show:

“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.”

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