Cloud 9

Cloud 9 description

Cloud 9 is an audacious landmark play, a modern classic by the brilliant Caryl Churchill. 

If you love a contemporary classic, this play will float your boat! Cloud 9 is a modern classic from one of Britain’s most influential playwrights. The scene is Victorian Africa, in colonial times, where we meet the administrator and patriarch Clive, his wife, son and servant. Each of them is struggling to act the way society expects them to. A century later in London, the family turns up again. How do they navigate this strange new world where notions of empire still echo down the centuries, now balanced by the siren call of freedom? 

This stunning satirical commentary on the British Empire and its bizarre take on gender roles and sexuality will blow your mind, a play in two acts set across two continents, spanning two very different cultures. A powerful exploration of society's norms and how personal identity changes over time, it showcases the absurdity of rigid gender classifications. The message is highlighted by the unique casting, whose characters are performed unexpectedly by the opposite sex. 

Funny and serious at the same time, this is a thrilling take on the way historical and social forces shape our personal lives whether we want them to or not – and the way they both liberate and oppress us. Billed as packed with 'audacious theatricality and razor-sharp wit', it comes from the brilliant Caryl Churchill (Top Girls), a seminal piece of drama directed by Dominic Cooke in a brave new production. 

Rebecca Humphries plays Ellen, Mrs Saunders and Lin, while Eloka Ivo plays Joshua and Gerry. Tom Mothersdale plays Harry Bagley and Martin, with Charlotte Ritchie as Maud and Victoria and Ellen Robertson as Edward and Betty. Stuart Thompson plays Betty and Edward, and Sam Troughton plays Clive and Cathy. Set Designer Miriam Buether joins Costume Designer Samuel Wyer, Lighting Designer

Jessica Hung Han Yun, Sound Designer Donato Wharton, Casting Director Naomi Downham and 

Dialect Coach Penny Dyer, along with Voice Coach Shereen Ibrahim, to bring the action to sparkling life. 

Buy Cloud 9 tickets to experience a potent satire that'll provoke your thoughts, inspiring you to think again about the meaning of colonialism, sexuality and repression.

Playing at Lyttelton - National Theatre

South Bank, London, SE1 9PX GB (venue info)

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