Cloud Nine

By Caryl Churchill

Directed by Genevieve Thompson

Produced by Infamous Commonwealth Theatre

At National Pastime Theater

4139 N. Broadway

Chicago, IL

Call 312-458-9780.tickets $18

Thursdays thru Saturdays at 8 PM

Sundays at 3 PM

(No shows Thanksgiving weekend)

Running time 2 hrs, 25 min with intermission

Through December 18, 2005

Cloud 9 is provocative, sexy gender bender

Infamous Commonwealth Theatre, an able non-Equity troupe, has DESIRE for it’s ’05-06 season topic and Caryl Churchill’s 1977 play, Cloud 9, aptly speaks to that longing. This is an ambitious production, long on farce, satire and playing against type, literally. Churchill designed a complete reversal of roles to include males playing females and whites playing blacks in an 1880’s British African colony where she cleverly parallels the suppressed Victorian sexual attitudes with the suppression of blacks by the British. Churchill deals with hidden sexual desires including homosexual, pedophilia as well as basic adulterous desires.

Act one features a satire of the hypocrisy of the ‘stiff-upper lip’ British family. This is by far the strongest act. Peopled by delicious, over-the-top characters, we see Laura Ciresi as the little boy who’d rather play with a rag doll, James Dunn, a slim white man, deftly playing a black house servant complete with rich African accent. Stephen Dunn plays the stiff mother/wife, Betty, whose Victorian values severely limit her. Jill Van Brussel is the nanny who loves Betty and Jeremy Van Meter is the father whose affair with a neighbor, Mrs. Saunders (Adrienne Smith) is justified, yet when Betty looks at Harry (Rian Jairell), the adventurous explorer, she is admonished. We see that Harry has had sex with the boy and the servant and he agrees to marry the lesbian nanny to save both embarrassment.

Act two is set 100 years later but the characters only age 25 years. Actors change roles as James Dunn goes from the black servant to Cathy, a ten year old precious little girl. He is a hoot in both roles. Laura Ciresi becomes Victoria while Stephen Dunn goes from Betty to Gerry, a gay sexual predator. Rian Jairell becomes the sexually liberated husband, Martin and Jeremy Van Meter emerges as a grown up Edward, Jerry’s lover. Jenn Renke is the independent women’s lib lesbian and Jill Van Brussel is the aged Betty who finally decides to throw caution to the wind and live her hidden desires.

Cloud 9 has lot’s of sex, lot’s of satire and many laughs. It is provocative and satirical. Act one works well but act two rambles and drags on with some overly complicated scenes. James Dunn’s spot on silliness as Cathy highlight act two. It would serve this entertaining show if judicious cuts were made especially in the long monologues. Quicker transition and pacing would help also.

The deconstructed gender roles and the absurd flavor of the play works to dramatize the contradictions and limits of society’s norms toward sexual relations. Churchill’s clever script is in good hands here as this show is ripe with rich British accents and fine characterizations.

Recommended

Tom Williams

Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments

Chicago Stage Talk Radio Show

This show is eligible for a C.S.T. Non-Equity Theatre Award

November 10, 2005