Bozeman Magazine

Verge Theater is opening its 2016-2017 Season in September with one of the finest and funniest plays of Sarah Ruhl's provocative and quirky collection. The Clean House can be somewhat defined by its setting:  " A metaphysical Connecticut. Or, a house that is not far from the city and not far from the sea." And so we move forward into a hilarious and not quite so absurd class study where money be damned because life is really about whether or not you can tell (or at least laugh at) a good joke.

Lane is a driven American doctor. She and her recently estranged husband Charles (a surgeon) have hired Matilde to clean their house, but Windex and feather dusters depress Matilde. After all, she feels like she was born for something better...like telling the perfect joke! Fortunately for her, Lane's sister, Virginia, respects the accretion of dust and the transcendence of mildew and offers to clean the house for Matilde on the sly. If it isn't weird enough yet, Charles has fallen in love with one of his patients and is determined to save her by trekking to Alaska in search of a tree that cures cancer, leaving Lane with no husband, a housekeeper who doesn't keep house, a neurotic sister, and her rival in love who is dying.

Director Todd Hoberecht will deftly guide the audience through this seemingly mad world opening on September 16 and running on Fridays and Saturdays through October 1. All shows begin promptly at 8pm at Verge Theater. Reservations are $14, available online at vergetheater.com, or in person at Cactus Records in downtown Bozeman. Verge Theater is located at 2304 N. 7th Ave., across from Murdoch's, at the extremely hilarious North end of Bozeman.