When I headed off to see Cloud Nine with a classmate and friend I was really only equipped with some vague definitions and descriptions of the event. More than helpful they were fairly elusive, “Uproariously funny” or “Some weird time fracture thing” didn’t give me much to go on and having attended one or two bad plays in the past I wasn’t terribly optimistic about the outcome of this performance either. However, I could not have been more mistaken and pleasantly surprised by the final bow. Incorporating politics, satire and gender confusion into a play made for a fantastic show.
Rather than outline the entire performance I will quickly summarize the events from the two acts. In the first act, set in colonial 1880’s africa, the events of a few weeks among a small british family’s life are performed. The family comes standard with a Husband, Clive, a wife, Betty, a son, Edward, a daughter, Victoria, a mother-in-law, Maude, a governess for the children, Ellen, a black servant, Joshua, a visiting friend, Harry, and a neighboring widow, Mrs. Saunders. However, some of these characters were not ‘typical’. For example, Betty was played by a man, Joshua was played by a white male, Victoria was played by a doll, and Edward was played by a female.
This first act of the play showed the sexual nature of each character and how they tried to maintain their poise and civility in the animalistic nature of Africa. Betty admits her love for the traveller, Harry, who during his frequent visits has molested her son Edward. When Harry tells Clive he is gay Clive pushes him to forget this and to marry a woman. Opportunity for marriage arrises when Ellen admits she is in love with Betty and a wedding occurs between the two gay characters. Before this wedding, Harry also sleeps with the servant Joshua. Clive and the widow engage in a sexual relationship. Finally, Edward plays with his sisters toys and is constantly scolded for his feminine personality.
While there is far too much to discuss within this act I was particularly struck by the language used by the characters. I found the word-choice to be absolutely crucial in portraying the message of repression during this period. Betty and Clive are most interesting while interacting with each other and the other characters. They seem to most embody this image of repressed sexuality during colonialism. Clive pushes his wife to be patient and doting and seems to find her dull and stupid and he is wildly attracted to Mrs. Saunders who he blames for his interest. Plenty of language refers to the Queen of England and reflecting the nation well.
The second act I will leave to wikipedia to explain the cast of characters and a quick plot overview:
- Betty, now played by a woman (normally the same actress who plays Edward)
- Edward, her son, now played by a man (normally the same actor who plays Betty)
- Victoria, her daughter (normally played by the same actress who plays Maud)
- Martin, Victoria’s husband (normally played by the same actor who plays Harry)
- Lin, a lesbian single mother (normally played by the same actress who plays Ellen/Mrs. Saunders)
- Cathy, Lin’s daughter age 5, played by a man (normally the same actor who plays Clive)
- Gerry, Edward’s lover (normally played by the same actor who plays Joshua
Although Act 2 is set in 1979, some of the characters of Act 1 are reappearing – for them only 25 years have passed. Betty has left Clive, her daughter Victoria is now married to Martin, and Edward has an openly gay relationship with Gerry. Victoria leaves Martin and starts a lesbian relationship with Lin. When Gerry leaves Edward, Edward moves in with his sister and Lin. The three of them have a drunken ceremony in which they call up the Goddess, and after that characters from Act 1 begin appearing in Act 2. Act 2 has a looser structure than Act 1, and Churchill played around with the ordering of the scenes.
As evidenced by the above information it should be obvious that this act starts by confusing the audience and it took a few minutes and for some members a few scenes to understand who the characters were and what the plot of the act was. This act of the play also provokes the audience to interrogate their perceptions of culture in the 1980’s. Here the women and gay characters dominate the play rather than the men or heterosexual characters. The women control their sexuality and their bodies and their expressions of desire where in act one this was all controlled by the men.
While there is still plenty more to be digested and discussed about this play I will end by quickly examining the final scene of this play. Betty begins by discussing her sexuality while she was with her husband, clive, and how she felt it was inappropriate to touch herself and then continues in her monologue about her experiences, or lack thereof, with masturbation and her most recent exploration of her own body. As she talks about touching herself and reclaiming her body the actor playing betty from the first act emerges on stage wearing the full costume and approaches Betty. The two pause for a moment, their eyes meet, they embrace, and then walk off stage together. This moment, is the reconciliation of the repression of the Victorian age which defined gender roles so harshly and the liberation of the 80’s when these gender roles and behaviors began to be broken down.
