Reviews

The Clean House by Sarah Ruhl

kimberly_levaco's review

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emotional reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Ruhl has an incredibly knack for creating a uniquely distinct visual language.

ponch22's review

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4.0

Read this because a local playhouse is doing this this year and I wanted to prepare for the auditions. Unfortunately, I could have looked at the character list in the front of the book and realized that the one 40-50-year-old man was out of my wheelhouse.

Still glad I read it. It's a good play able to be performed in a small space with limited set. There are some scene changes, but as I read it I imagined the different settings could easily be indicated with lighting and sound. The scenes are often very short, so I imagine costuming would have to be pretty simplistic as well (days often pass between scenes and I believe realistic costumes would create some very hectic scene changes).

The play's central character, Matilde, is a British cleaning lady whose parents both died laughing. She spends most of the play trying to create the funniest joke in the world and I was a little sad the play didn't deliver with what it ended up being (although I'm sure no matter what [a:Sarah Ruhl|81678|Sarah Ruhl|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-F-50x66-2a9d702c2a0f483c9f7dd119cc28a9a7.jpg] would have written would have disappointed). Quick read if you have a few hours to kill.

annadrinksmilk's review

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emotional funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

rnh1213's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

tonsillitis's review

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dark funny hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

nymeria_reads's review against another edition

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3.5

It was sweet though I may not have understood it completely 

emilysoup's review

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had to read the play for school - only needed to read act 1 for the assignment and got too caught up in other work to return for act 2 (date stopped is inaccurate i just don’t remember when it actually was)

gwenbuchanan's review

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emotional reflective sad

3.5

ebunk's review

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lighthearted sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

elsarrrr's review

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challenging dark emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Just. Read it. So funny such clever writing I have nothing more to say. No criticism at all.