The Clean House is an award-winning, sparkling romantic comedy about a physician who cannot convince her whimsical Brazilian maid to clean her house.

The Clean House is an award-winning, sparkling romantic comedy about a physician who cannot convince her whimsical Brazilian maid to clean her house.

Lane has got everything – a successful surgeon for a husband and her own busy career as a doctor – but all she truly longs for is a clean house! Matilde, her Brazilian cleaner, hates to clean, instead preferring to dream up the perfect joke. Thankfully, Lane’s sister Virginia loves cleaning and comes to a secret arrangement with Matilde. 

Meanwhile, Lane’s husband Charles becomes enchanted by one of his patients, the free-spirited Ana who casts a surreal spell over the clean house. 

“One of the finest and funniest plays you’re likely to see... Romantic, but also a little nuts”– New York Times

The Clean House came from a chance remark overheard by playwright Sarah Ruhl at a party. "My cleaning lady is depressed and won't clean my house," a doctor at the party said. "So I took her to the hospital and had her medicated. And she still won't clean!" From that singular moment, Ruhl spun this intriguingly offbeat play about laughter and life that beautifully manages to avoid pretension.

The Clean House won the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2004, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2005. In this Circa Theatre season we present a stellar team with a multiple Chapman Tripp winning Director (Susan Wilson), three Chapman Tripp Theatre Award winning actors (Jane Waddell, Erin Banks & Michelle Amas), Jude Gibson returning to the role of Lane after a smash hit season of The Clean House at the Fortune Theatre (Dunedin), and presenting international actor Alan Lovell, who has featured in numerous films – including Mission Impossible!

“A wondrously mad and moving work.” – Variety