Clean House: The New York premiere in 2006 starred Vanessa Aspillaga, Jill Clayburgh, Blair Brown and Concetta Tomei. The New York Times called it "one of the best plays you're likely to see." Critic Maia Nolan says much the same of Cyrano's new production. Photo: Sara Krulwich, New York Times.
By Maia Nolan

Like any committed Anchorage theatergoer, I’ve attended countless performances at Cyrano’s since the playhouse opened in the early 1990s. But Cyrano’s Theatre Company’s production of “The Clean House,” by Sara Ruhl, may be the best production I’ve seen staged there since — well, ever.

Director Krista Schwarting has a lot to work with here — a seasoned, talented cast; a versatile space; and Ruhl’s funny, earnest, touching script, which won the 2004 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2005 — and she makes the most of these assets, bringing to life a production that is touching, engaging and technically near-seamless.

Suehyla El-Attar leads the small, strong cast as Mathilde, a Brazilian immigrant who finds herself working as a housekeeper despite the fact that she hates to clean. (If you recognize El-Attar’s name, it’s because the Atlanta-based actor and playwright marked the West Coast debut of her play “The Perfect Prayer” at Cyrano’s in May 2007.) This time El-Attar is onstage in a role she previously played in an Atlanta production of “The Clean House.”

El-Attar’s experience in the role pays off here; she is clearly comfortable with Mathilde, and her comfort with the role helps engage the audience, particularly since Mathilde routinely breaks down the fourth wall to address the audience directly. El-Attar is by turns sassy and vulnerable, and she endows Mathilde with a guarded forlornness that endears her to the audience.

Mathilde, the child of two of the funniest people in Brazil, is on a quest to invent “the perfect joke” as a means of coping with her parents’ deaths. Along the way, she encounters a trio of women who become unlikely allies: Lane (Julia Cossman), her employer; Virginia (Linda Benson), Lane’s sister; and Ana (Ursula Gould), a cancer patient who’s having an affair with Lane’s husband.

The three couldn’t be better cast. Cossman’s Lane is brusque verging on hysterical, but sympathetic at the same time. Benson is warm and likeable as Virginia, with an impish twist that makes her seem almost childlike at moments. And Gould, who is a gifted comic actor, breathes a warmth and believability into Ana that keeps her character from becoming the clichéd “Terms of Endearment”-style peaceful cancer patient.

Paul Schweigert, who rounds out the cast as Lane’s husband Charles, brings both a deadpan humor and a certain gravitas to the role — as well as some impressive tango moves.

Set designer Brian Saylor deserves recognition for taking Cyrano’s small but versatile performance space and making it feel bright and spacious. Large sets sometimes leave Cyrano’s playhouse feeling a tad cramped, but Saylor’s set manages to conjure both a large (well-cleaned) house and a sunny oceanfront balcony.

Technically, there’s a lot going on in this production of “The Clean House” — lots of sound in particular — and those elements are integrated beautifully, enhancing the performance without drawing attention away from the actors.

The only negative for me was some awkward blocking in a couple of scenes. At one crucial moment, Ana (who has just learned that she has cancer and realized she’s in love) is facing away from the audience, which makes it hard to gauge her response to those realizations. In another scene, Virginia and Lane are supposed to be on a phone call but are placed onstage in such a way that it’s not clear whether they’re speaking on the phone or in person.

That minor quibble aside, however, “The Clean House” is wonderful. Thursday night’s preview audience left the house laughing, wiping away tears and gushing about the performance. Cyrano’s Theatre Company sets the bar higher every season, and “The Clean House” clears it with room to spare.

“The Clean House” runs Thurs.-Sat. at 7 p.m. and Sun. at 3 p.m. through Oct. 12 at Cyrano’s Off-Center Playhouse, 413 D Street. Tickets at www.centertix.net or 274-2599.