The Clean House

Wooly Mammoth presents Sarah Ruhl’s unpredictable drama in which the act of cleaning house transforms the lives of two unlikely sisters. High-powered doctor Lane hires a Portuguese maid who ironically hates to clean, but dreams instead of telling the perfect joke (in Portuguese, no less). Lane’s oddball sister Virginia, who loves to clean, comes to the maid’s rescue — until a mysterious stranger shakes up all their lives, touching off a chain of deceptions, confrontations, and new commitments. Graceful and visually sumptuous, this moving story overflows with jokes we don’t understand, deep feelings we can’t explain, and houses that are never as clean as we want them to be. Rebecca Bayla Taichman directs.