Dirty Laundry

Following the unexpected loss of her mother and simultaneous discovery of her father’s infidelity, an adult daughter juggles grief and anger. Her dad attempts to put into words his complicated feelings about love, loss, and lust. Meanwhile, the “other woman” ponders: What is an affair when it's no longer an affair? In Dirty Laundry, Mathilde Dratwa explores the absurdity and messiness of life and death.
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Dirty Laundry

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  • Asher de Forest:
    17 Apr. 2024
    I heard someone say that Mathilde Dratwa writes about the things we aren't supposed to talk about. In Dirty Laundry, two of those topics, grief and infidelity, are jumping off points for so much more. Dratwa frankly depicts the pain and ugliness--physical and emotional--that accompany the dying, the dead, and those they leave to mourn them. Yet, even as it refuses to shy away from the painful, ugly facts of life and death, the play is an act of grace and a thing of beauty.
  • Nick Malakhow:
    7 Jun. 2022
    An absolutely beautiful and human exploration of grief, loss, family, inherited and learned behaviors and coping mechanisms. It is also *extremely* funny, and I love a play that will make me alternate laughing and crying! I can totally see how well this would work as an audio play--especially the chorus. That said, it would be super compelling fully staged as well. By the end of the piece, I felt well acquainted with the family portrayed and appreciated how they were rendered--warts and all--seemingly without judgment because of the narrative self awareness of the messiness of family, love, and loneliness.
  • J.Lois Diamond:
    13 May. 2022
    I just watched an online reading of this wonderful play with The Playwrights' Center. There was so much musicality in the language. I loved the way the chorus was used at times to narrate, clarify, emphasize, or reveal what lay beneath the surface of the various characters in this complex family drama. A great story that held my interest throughout.

Development History

  • Workshop
    ,
    The Playwrights' Center
    ,
    2022
  • Commission
    ,
    Audible
    ,
    2021