Cloud Nine: theatrical conventions of the period

Theatrical Conventions of the Period in ‘Cloud Nine’

Time Periods and Settings:

Cloud Nine, being a two-act play, distinctively portrays two different periods: the Victorian era in Scene I and late 1970s in Scene II, both set in contrasting locations: colonial Africa and London respectively.
Churchill breaks conventional time-linearity by making her characters age only 25 years, though a century passes between the two acts.

Brechtian Epic Theatre:

The play emulates Bertolt Brecht’s Epic Theatre, emphasizing the audience’s critical reception over emotional involvement.
Churchill employs ‘alienation effect’ or ‘Verfremdungseffekt’ through cross-gender, cross-racial, and cross-generational casting. This upends the audience’s preconditioned perceptions, drawing attention to social constructs around gender, race, and age.
Use of songs, rhymes, direct address to the audience, scene summaries projected or announced further fall under non-realistic, Brechtian techniques Cloud Nine employs.

Subversion of Realist Conventions:

Churchill consciously defies the realist convention of ‘the fourth wall’, and characters occasionally address the audience directly, creating a meta-theatrical experience.
The characters’ circumstances intentionally violate the Aristotelian concept of probability, further distancing the play from realist conventions.

Cross-casting and Role Doubling:

The play’s innovative cross-casting is a critical theatrical device, forcing the audience to question societal norms regarding gender, race, and sexuality.
Role-doubling in the second act, where the actors from the first act play different characters, adds another level of complexity to the narrative. It suggests an interconnectedness between colonial and post-colonial eras and between different systems of oppression.

Use of Comedy and Irony:

Cloud Nine masterfully uses farce, irony, and comedy, both to entertain and to satirise societal norms and expectations.
Elements of black comedy are present with disturbing situations presented humorously, engaging the audience while encouraging them to question the moral implications.

Understanding the theatrical conventions used in Cloud Nine contributes to a deeper appreciation of the play. It displays Churchill’s inventive approach in voicing her critique on gender and societal constructs, effectively using these conventions to communicate her commentary on politics of sex and the subsequent transformation in society.