Play review: Cloud 9 by Caryl Churchill.

Today I give you my insight into Caryl Churchill 1978 play Cloud 9. This is a play in two halves, set in two different locations, in two different time periods. We start with act one set in British colony in Africa in the Victorian era. Then fast forward to act two and we find ourselves in 1979 London. However, for the characters, it is only twenty-five years later for them. That may be hard to comprehend but I found the play had amusing qualities that made the play take me out of that. I much preferred act two I must admit. In act one, the men seemed to dominate the play and had to act in a certain way, expectant of the Victorian era. I got confused how one man could cheat on his wife, while criticising her for lusting after his friend who lusts after him after his friend had also done stuff with his son. If I confused you then good, I was baffled by the whole thing.

Now if you think that was confusing, act two had more to offer... While act one was highlighting gender roles and gender norms, act two was oozing with sex and sexuality. Act one had the sex and there was the talk of forbidden love between two men yet act two saw sex as an proud and open auntie screaming as a child of her sibling finally gets dream job or even married. When I read act two, I saw how the men played a more minor role. Instead, it was the women who stole the play. I loved how Betty took over as this leading matriarch, compared to act one having this patriarchal figure in Clive.

The other thing that I liked a lot was how men and women often played reversed gender roles. Seeing men play women and women play men subverts the norm. To me this does not matter and allows gender to be explored more freely.