1st Night Photos: Fleet & Menzies Fly on Cloud Nine

Thea Sharrock’s revival of Caryl Churchill’s politically-charged 1979 classic Cloud Nine opened on Wednesday (31 October 2007, previews from 25 October) at the Almeida Theatre where it runs until to 8 December, with a cast led by James Fleet and Tobias Menzies (See News, 21 Aug 2007).

Set in both colonial Africa and 1970s Britain, Churchill’s role-swapping and cross-gender cast play examines relationships – between women and men, men and men, women and women. According to promotional material, it’s about “work, mothers, Africa, power, children, grandmothers, politics, money, Queen Victoria and sex”.

Fleet (who plays Clive/Cathy) and Menzies (Harry Bagley/Martin) are joined in the cast by Mark Letheren (Joshua/Gerry), Bo Poraj (Betty/Edward), Joanna Scanlan (Maud/Victoria), Sophie Stanton (Ellen/Mrs Saunders/Lin) and Nicola Walker (Edward/Betty). The production is designed by Peter McKintosh, with lighting by Peter Mumford and sound by Gregory Clarke.

TO SCROLL THROUGH ALL OF THE CLOUD NINE 1st NIGHT PHOTOS,
JUST CLICK ON THE "NEXT >" LINKS BELOW THE FOLLOWING FRAME.

For 1st Night Photos, our Whatsonstage.com photographer Dan Wooller was on hand for the post-show party at Almeida Theatre with the Cloud Nine company, director Thea Sharrock, artistic director Michael Attenborough and other first night guests including Jodie Whittaker, Kenneth Cranham, Nigel Lindsay, Ben Turner, Trevor Cooper and former Almeida joint artistic director Jonathan Kent.

- by Terri Paddock

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