The Clean House

The white set that was the living room in Lane and Charles’s house in Act I is now “the idea of a hospital” (51), overlooked by a balcony. Charles is performing surgery on Ana. Charles and Ana are played by the same actors who played Matilde’s parents. The script suggests that if the actor who plays Charles can sing well, he should sing while performing surgery, ideally “an ethereal medieval love song in Latin about being medically cured by love” (51). If the actor playing Ana sings well, she can join in contrapuntally while she recovers. After the surgery, Charles removes the sheet covering Ana’s body and she is wearing a dress. The couple kisses. 

To the audience, Ana explains that she has always hated everything about doctors—their smell, their hurried walk, the way they handle their emotions. When she met Charles, her automatic response was hatred, but she fell in love immediately nevertheless. Ana’s love deepened while she was unconscious during surgery. She muses that sometimes surgeons accidentally leave sponges or clamps in the bodies they operate on, adding, “But—you know—I think Charles left his soul inside me.