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A perfect comedy in a perfect production.

A perfect comedy in a perfect production.
by Jacob Clark - SGN A&E Writer The Clean House By Sarah Ruhl, directed by Allison Narver. A.C.T. through April 29. Tickets: 206-292-7676. Once in a while, maybe only once in a decade, a comedy comes along that is utterly contemporary, completely fresh, smart, with a simple premise turned at every angle of possibility. Such is Sarah Ruhls 2004 play The Clean House, now rocking the stage at A.C.T. Set in the white on white living room of Lane and Charles, two doctors in a lackluster marriage, the play features a maid, Matilde, who is depressed by cleaning, Lanes compulsively clean sister Virginia and Charles new lover Ana. To capture the comic spirit of the play, a blow by blow plot analysis wont do. Matilde is freed from her chores when Virginia starts secretly cleaning the house, Lane agonizes over Charles infidelity, Charles and Ana openly celebrate finding a soul mate in one another. Matilde uses her free time devising the perfect joke. Underneath the action are sad stories of loss and keys to redemption. It is not the action itself, but the way in which it unfolds that provides the comedy. There are many reversals and discoveries in the play to keep the story constantly in motion, and perfect comic dialogue to dress it up. I will not reveal the plot in this review, so that you the reader will be surprised by it when you see it. And this play is a must-see. The acting is superb. Anne Allgood as Virginia exercises perfect comic timing in both word and gesture. A well-timed turn of her head can bring the house down in laughter with the same intensity as a well-placed punch line. The characters neurosis becomes Allgoods palate for painting a hilarious portrait of domestic angst. Matilde, in Christine Calfas interpretation, is a dynamo of comic energy, powering the laughs in English as well as Portuguese. Suzanne Bouchards Lane is defined by the colorless living room and her white-rimmed glasses, an objective doctor, wishing her life was as clean as her occupation. Priscilla Hake Lauris plays Ana as a sixty-something flower child who accepts her fate with the same wonder that she accepts her love for the younger Charles. As Charles, Allen Fitzpatrick achieves a kind of comic innocence in his infidelity, defined by his real love for Ana. Allison Narver inhabits the play with the zany characterizations, and provides a near-perfect comic pace that sends the belly laughs into the stratosphere. Pace and timing are so important in comedy, and so often lacking in local productions. The Clean House serves as a case study in the art and skill of timing. The word brilliant is taboo in play reviews, due to its over-use in the 1980s, but I can think of no other word to encompass the writing, direction and acting in ACTs The Clean House. See it.