The Clean House

Lane is a doctor in her mid-fifties, and the play centers on her living room. She has cultivated a highly controlled life: a successful medical career, a successful and attractive surgeon husband, and a pristine house that she doesn’t have to maintain herself. She wears white and decorates her house in white, a color that doesn’t allow any leeway for spills or mistakes. Lane’s self-assuredness in her own life and choices manifests as condescension toward her sister, who became a housewife, which Lane sees as inferior to working. Lane also views Matilde as a lesser human. She pronounces her name incorrectly even after Virginia corrects her. Lane is deeply uncomfortable to learn about Matilde’s life and parents because while she sees it as appropriate for a contemporary at a party to be interesting, she does not want to see her cleaning lady as a whole person. Early in the play, she sees Matilde’s trauma and depression as an inconvenience, taking her to the doctor to be repaired like a household appliance so that Matilde will function as anonymously and inconspicuously as a dishwasher or a refrigerator. Upon firing Matilde, Lane plans to buy her a ticket and send her back to Brazil as if she is a defective tool.