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Clean Start
Reviewed by Vanessa Cate
Casa 0101 Theater
Through Feb. 15
The inspiration for co-writer & co-director team Josefina López and Kathy Fischer’s Clean Start began during the big recession that started in 2007. Everyone was feeling the pinch, even the wealthiest among us. López joked, “Now everyone has to learn how to live like a Mexican”.
This premise does two things. It gives an intriguing look at race and class differences in the United States, but also an open invitation for ubiquitous stereotyping.
Rosario Rodriguez (Ingrid Oliu) is a hardworking maid, subservient not only to her boss of 20 years, Beverly Hills socialite Parker Reed (Kim Chase), but also to her opinionated mother (Marina Gonzalex Palmier) and her delusional sister Blanca (Maria Russell). When Reed’s husband and fortune seem to vanish in a puff of smoke, it’s straight to Rosario that Parker turns. And not just for help, living in Rosario’s hosue, but for an unpaid continuation of humiliating service, such as blowing Reed’s nose for her and filling her up on liquor every time she claims it’s “tea time.”
The play is promoted as centering on Parker Reed, so out of place in a downscale Latina household. But the story is more successful when it focuses on Rosario. In Oliu’s performance as the gentle housekeeper, by far the most realistic and sympathetic character, Rosario has to struggle to stand up for herself in even the smallest of ways. It’s her heart that keeps us rooted in the story (and indeed, rooting for anyone).
Overall the actors do a fine job with what they are given. Robert Jekabson’s Vladimir, the Russian handyman that lives in their basement and wears only underwear (for some reason), for instance, gets about as much substance as is possible. Likewise Russell’s Blanca is surprisingly charismatic and natural despite the obstacle of vanity being her only defining characteristic. And Palmier’s Doña Rodriguez shines through the heap of stereotypes that she has to deal with even from the very first scene as she’s watching Spanish Soap operas and casting spells on the lovers on the show.
In a show and at a theater that seeks to celebrate women and Latino culture, I would hope that they wouldn’t work so hard to marginalize themselves. The story and the theme may be better served with more fleshed-out characters rather than mere characterization. However, the play elicits consistent laughter, so in place of substance, the comedy seems enough to suffice.
Casa 0101 Theater, 2012 East 1st St. Boyle Heights.; Fri. & Sat. 8 p.m. & Sun. 5 p.m.; through Feb. 15, (323)-263-7684, www.casa0101.org
