The Clean House

continued

Mathilde's quest for the perfect joke becomes a setup for a theatrical magic trick you've got to see to believe. When Mathilde finally announces she's invented the funniest joke in the world, it's an outrageous taunt to the audience, which (barring the impossible — that you're actually going to hear the funniest joke in the world) can end only in disappointment. Yet when the moment comes, and the joke is told in such a way that the audience can't hear it, the audience doesn't care.

The Clean House continues its run at the Performance Network Thursday through Sunday, ending Sunday, October 21.

[Review published October 2007]