REVIEW: Cloud Nine
- Posted on November 13, 2007 12:56 PM
- 0 comments
Almeida Theatre, Monday 11th November
Written by Caryl Churchill
Review by Zarina Raja
Cloud Nine is a clever play that sweeps through the intricacies of sexual politics, racism, bigotry and colonisation. It is extremely funny to the men in the audience but is hilarious to the ladies:
‘Young women are never happy but when they are old, they look back and realise that comparatively – they were ecstatic.’
A deep and strangely synchronized laughter shot out from the crowd at this point - the ladies giggling a little harder than the men. It seemed that the older women of the audience knew this all too well and the younger girls could see it coming.
Churchill expertly plucks a taboo from society and makes light of it, but manages to leave the thought of it lingering in the audience’s minds. Fundamentally, the play focuses on a woman’s role in society. It is clear that, even though most of the play is set in colonial Africa, a woman’s position in society – although higher than it was - can still be gently linked to modern-day Britain. She hones in on societies’ idea that women must stay at home to be with the children and the nanny. Cloud Nine emphasizes how weak a woman appears to be without a man by her side to shoot down the enemy. It highlights the need for a woman to be living with a man, be it his wife or mother-in-law.
Another great line:
‘Your mother is visiting, she can keep you company.’
‘I don’t think mother is on a visit - I think she lives with us.’
‘Oh, I think she does.’
The role is also reversed when the young son, Edward, insists on playing with a doll but is scolded by his parents as it is not a ‘manly’ game.
Cloud Nine wonderfully urges ones mind into thinking about the hierarchy of Britain today. Although Churchill is mocking stereo-types, she is also mixing them up. The leading lady, Betty, is played by a man but is given the whimpering and needy character of a wife that is nothing without her husband. Betty certainly got a handful of cackles from the audience. She resembled David Walliams’ Little Britain character of ‘I’m a laaaaydee don’t you know,’ She wondered about the stage pulling comical faces, sweetly mocking a rich but mopey and very British house-wife. ‘Oh, the piiiiaaano.’ she cooed or ‘Let’s read some ‘poo-eeer-trai.’ Ah, it’s always the simple jokes that continue to entertain.
Amid the jesting and romp-comedy sex scenes, a brutal issue lay at the heart of Cloud Nine. The families’ black servant (also played by a white man) has disowned his tribe and lands them in trouble when ever possible. The stable boys, he says, are not to be trusted; this results in a mass beating of the servants. There is something quite disgusting about the way Britain simply strides into countries all around the world and sticks their flag into the ground; trying their best to make everybody else more like them. With Joshua, the servant, Britain seems to have succeeded. Part way through the first act of the play, Joshua stands under the spot light of the stage and beautifully sings the hymn ‘In the Bleak Mid Winter.’ His soft but powerful voice danced to the back of the Almeida and hung in the air. Although it was lovely, it hammered in the fact that a young, black servant had come to believe that his master’s way of life was more inferior to his own tribe.
Along with the lathering of sexual repression and racism, Cloud Nine also covers the aging views of homosexuality. ‘It’s not a sin – it is a disease.’ The ridiculously sexually charged Harry, played by Tobias Menzies, took on this role of being gay (and also sleeping with young boys and women).
All in all, Cloud Nine is a comedy guaranteed to have you spluttering and laughing. It is rude, hilarious, entertaining and insightful.
For more info on the Almeida Theatre or Cloud Nine go to www.almeida.co.uk/ Cloud Nine is running until 8th December.
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