London's Community Theatre 246a Lower Road, Waterloo, London, SE1 8SJ

Network Theatre Company presents:

Cloud 9

By Caryl Churchill, directed by Daniel Carter

Caryl Churchill’s Cloud Nine is a contemporary examination of gender roles and sexual politics through the lens of ironic farce.

In Victorian era Africa, stiff-lipped Clive tries to keep everything under control – until dashing explorer Harry arrives, and tensions begin to grow between the ‘natives’ and the British administration, just as sexual tensions begin to grow amongst Clive’s compatriots.

As the exploits of the characters mount, the play reaches a dramatic denouement and we fast forward to contemporary London, though the characters age only 25 years. Here, women rule the show: there are debates on leaving “male feminist” husbands and the trials of motherhood, children running amok, séances to summon sex goddesses, and at least one menage a trois.

The past and the present start to blur together and through the farce of it all, we ask the question of whether we are as liberated as we think we are.

An amateur production in arrangement with Samuel French

Cast

Shamini BundellClive/Cathy
Gabriela Godinho-MoxonEdward/Lin
Dominic ThomsonHarry/Martin
Freddie GriggsBetty/Edward
Agnès RivetEllen/Mrs Saunders/Victoria
Jennie RichMaud/Betty
Alexi StylianouJoshua/Gerry