Charlotte Ritchie, Sam Troughton and Tom Mothersdale are among the company in the first production photographs from Cloud 9, Dominic Cooke's revival of Caryl Churchill's 1979 play, released a day before its press night in the National Theatre's Lyttelton.
The National Theatre has put out the first production photographs of Cloud 9, taken by Johan Persson, on the eve of the critics' visit: press night is Tuesday 10 November at 7pm, and the revival plays the Lyttelton until 13 January 2027. The pictures follow the rehearsal images issued at the end of September, and our guide to the production has the background.
The production reunites Caryl Churchill with Dominic Cooke, the director whose screen work includes Game of Thrones: The Mad King and whose first season at the Almeida was announced in October. Nearly half a century after its 1979 premiere, the play is still asking awkward questions about gender, about who holds power, and about what an empire leaves behind it.
Its structure is the provocation. The first act is set in colonial Africa in the Victorian era, where Clive, an administrator and the head of the household, expects his wife, his son and his servant to fit the parts he has assigned them, and none of them quite can. The second act moves the same family to London in the 1970s, a hundred years on, where the empire has not entirely gone away and the pull of freedom is harder to ignore.
Each actor carries two roles, and one carries three: Sam Troughton (Chernobyl, HBO) plays Clive and Cathy; Stuart Thompson (Romans: A Novel, Almeida Theatre) plays Betty and Edward; Ellen Robertson (Vladimir, Netflix) plays Edward and Betty; Charlotte Ritchie (Ghosts, BBC One) plays Maud and Victoria; Tom Mothersdale (Bodies, Netflix) plays Harry Bagley and Martin; Eloka Ivo (Black Superhero, Royal Court) plays Joshua and Gerry; and Rebecca Humphries (The Crown, Netflix) takes on Ellen, Mrs Saunders and Lin.
The understudies are Tom Brace-Jenkins (Betty/Edward), Izaak Cainer (Clive/Cathy), Dan Furlonger (Harry Bagley/Martin), Skye Hallam (Maud/Victoria and Ellen/Mrs Saunders/Lin), Meg Lewis (Edward/Betty) and Ola Teniola (Joshua/Gerry).
Behind the scenes, Miriam Buether has designed the set and Samuel Wyer the costumes, with lighting by Jessica Hung Han Yun, sound by Donato Wharton and music composed by Andy Roberts. Josh Sneesby is music director and Naomi Downham cast the production. Penny Dyer (dialect) and Shereen Ibrahim (voice) are the coaches, Max Harrison is associate director and Luke Smith associate set designer.
Evening performances begin at 7.30pm from Monday to Saturday, with Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm. Four evenings start an hour early, at 6.30pm: Tuesday 24 November, Tuesday 1 December, Thursday 3 December and Thursday 10 December, and the National notes that times may change over the holidays. Accessible performances include captioning on 11 and 21 December at 7.30pm and on 9 January at 2.30pm, a BSL-interpreted show on 4 December at 7.30pm, audio description with a touch tour 90 minutes beforehand on 28 November at 2.30pm and 12 January 2027 at 7.30pm, and a relaxed performance on 14 December at 7.30pm.
Cloud 9 is booking now at the Lyttelton, National Theatre until 13 January 2027.
