Oh. My. God. People—you must, mustmustMUST go see The Clean House at Zach Scott Theater immediately. Whether you literally have some sort of OCD that prompts you into unstoppable cleaning sprees, or are more of the metaphorical sort who's forever trying to tidy up this wicked, funny, messy thing called life, this show is for you. And isn't everyone at least one of those two things?

Smaranda Ciceu plays Mathilde, the hilariously sad twentysomething Brazilian housekeeper who hates to clean. This proves to be problematic for her power-achiever MD employer, Lane, played to perfection by Lauren Lane. On the other hand, it provides a thrill for Lane’s neatnik sister, Virginia (Barbara Chisolm) who lives to dust, scrub and rearrange. Tom Green who doubles as both the ghost of Mathilde’s father and as Charles, Lane’s nutty husband—also an MD— has got obsessions of his own. And Ana (Alicia Kaplan) also pulls double duty as the ghost of Mathilde’s mother and, among other things, Charles’ distracting (to put it mildly) patient.

The play, written by MacArthur Fellowship genius, Sara Ruhl, is packed with laughs, but don’t mistake that for some giddy, surface-only fluff. There’s plenty of meat to sink your teeth into, and if you’re lucky enough to know Portuguese and Argentinean Spanish, which pops up here and there, you’ll get even more out of it. (Though there are some subtitles if you don’t.)

Lane’s life is falling apart as she finds herself confronting a mess of problems: ancient issues with Virginia, an out-of-the-blue proclamation from Charles, the unwanted offering of friendship from Ana, and a dust-avoiding maid who is far more focused on coming up with the best joke in the world than cleaning the toilets.

Not a single weak performance among this bunch of talented actors, who perform the show in the round. Lauren Lane is the big star here, known and loved by many for her six-year stint on the television show, The Nanny. The emotion she can pack into one slightly arched eyebrow is more than the rest of us could hope for if we trained for a hundred years. She could be reading the phone book and an audience would be riveted. That she has such wonderful material to work with makes experiencing her artistry that much more delicious.

Chisholm could not be funnier, period. Virginia packs an irresistible one-two combination. At first she seems so focused on the ironing and folding she couldn’t possibly have much depth. And then, POW, we get to see a character with a good deal of depth. Her comic timing and the physicality she brings to her role literally had the audience leaning forward.

Ciceu is at turns all motion when telling a joke and then perfectly still, conveying plenty with her enormous, expressive eyes. And Green and Kaplan—both individually and together— bring a perfect blend of nuttiness to the whole affair.

There are hints of Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance here, for sure. And later, when Charles heads off on a determined mission, a sort of warped Little Women scenario ensues, with three of the women left to care for the fourth, who…well, let’s not have a spoiler here. It’s a terrific exploration of human relationships and imaginations so vivid that at times one character can conjure an image strong enough for another to see.

The set is deceptively simple, yet with no major scene changes director Dave Steakley takes us from the interior of a fancy house, to a hospital setting, and even Alaska. Given that there is no backstage to aid the crew in these transitions, that’s just one more round of enthusiastic kudos for the show.

[Note: This show was reviewed by Spike Gillespie who monthly shares a stage with Lauren Lane in The Dick Monologues.]