Cloud 9

Cloud 9 is a comedy and satirical play written by British playwright Caryl Churchill. This play is a satirical commentary of the British Empire and its rigid perspectives on gender roles and sexuality. The first act follows Clive, a colonial administrator, and his family as they try to contain the British colonies in Africa during the Victorian era This time-shifting comedy by the author of Top Girls created a sensation in its off-Broadway premiere, directed by Tommy Tune. A hilarious and scathing parody of colonialism and the Victorian Empire, particularly in its rigid attitude toward sex, Cloud 9 explodes conventions and challenges its audience with humor and wit. There is Clive, a British functionary; his wife Betty (played by a man); their daughter Victoria (a rag doll); Clive’s friend Harry, an explorer; Mrs. Saunders, who runs about dressed in a riding habit; Clive’s son Edward, who still plays with dolls (and is played by a woman); and Joshua, an African servant who knows exactly what is really going on. It is a marvelous sendup and a non-stop round-robin of sexual liaisons. The second act shifts to London in 1980. Though a century has passed, the surviving characters have only aged 25 years. Now played by different actors, characters have lost their repressed sexual longings, along with the Empire.

Edited at 2022-08-22 10:03:13