Cloud Nine

Synopsis

Cloud Nine was originally written from a series of workshops exploring sexuality, with Joint Stock in 1978. Often hilarious and extremely poignant, Cloud Nine draws a parallel between colonial and sexual oppression. Set in both Victorian Africa and 1970's London, the play shows how changing sexual behaviours have emerged and, with the onset of a more liberated society, suggests that new as yet undiscovered territories lie ahead. The characters are both joyful and mournful, the dialogue richly comic but painfully acute. The play contains adult themes and language.

Our Review:

15 September 2009

Among theatregoers, Caryl Churchill is blue touch paper. Strike a match in the vicinity of her name and there will be sparks, there will be blood. Are her plays iconoclastic, blatant or just plain hectoring? Is all that embedded feminism bracing or relentless? It’s your call.

Beyond argument, though, is the sheer theatricality of her work. Churchill’s best writing belongs exclusively to the stage; remove her plays from their natural habitat and they shrivel, but treat them to a production as rich as this one and they can soar.

Thirty years ago Cloud Nine sealed Churchill’s reputation as an ‘important’ playwright, a label that characterises the admiration (rather than adulation) she has commanded ever since. This incongruous exploration of gender and sexuality has lost much of its relevance in the intervening years, and its wit is wafer-thin in places, but as an optimistic, era-defining piece it deserves this revival.

In a...

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Latest User Review

James Maguire - 15 September 2009:

Great show, great theatre, great cast. I remember this play from University (too many years ago to mention!) and I wondered how it would stand the test of time. The production doesn't pass judgement, it just presents the issues to us and leaves us to mull over them afterwards, and this makes it a wonderful experience. It is a show full of beautiful performances, the two Betty's are simply stunning, and it has some wonderful images which will stay with me a long time. Didn't know this company beforehand, but will certainly look out for them in the future. Bravo!!...

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