"Set in County Kildare, Ireland, 1652-1655, the play shows the destructive power of intolerance and bigotry as the government of Oliver Cromwell extends its grip to Ireland, punishing Royalists, Catholics, and the Irish, and destroying a loving mixed marriage in the process. As is so often the case in "Irish Troubles" plays, the women are the strong ones while the men are weak, proud, and self-righteous. Understated direction by Kevin Theis works wonders with material that is always literate but occasionally didactic, and brings out the best in the principal performances of Catherine O'Connor as the Irish wife, Michael Grant as her British husband, Kate Martin as the wife's best friend, and Don Blair and Karen Tarjan as the Royalist neighbors. Of the major elements, only Robert Whitaker's clumsy scenic design misses the mark, filling half the stage with large fragments of interior walls that fail to define any particular place or places, and which deny the actors use of any floor space in that portion of the three-quarter thrust stage. The Clearing is an open run at the Theatre Building"--Back Stage.