Cloud Nine by Caryl Churchill.. Discuss the dramatic qualities of this writing.

The extract from the opening of Cloud Nine is incredibly dense in the number of ideas expressed by the playwright in the short space of time. Churchill uses both verbal and visual signs, simultaneously but often incongruently, in order to place emphasis on her subversion of racial and gender stereotypes.

The opening tableau presented on stage with the union jack set upon a flagpole at once introduces the stereotypically British Victorian family who begin by singing a patriotic song honouring England, penned by Churchill herself. The effect of a song sung in unison by all the characters firmly established this introductory scene in non-naturalistic territory, instead bordering on farce. The words of the song, presumably sung to the audience, correspond with the actions: the family do gather as they sing “Come gather...” repeatedly and they do indeed “Rally to the flag” on stage. According to the particular perspectives of audience members, this opening song may be taken as natural harmless pride or jingoistic stirring. Whatever position is taken, by the second song, it is either entirely invalidated or affirmed.

The songs form a framing device for the passage introducing all the members of the family. The first seems to evoke a lulling sense of camaraderie asking the audience to “come gather” but then as a result of what is presented in between, by the time the second song begins twenty two lines later, any illusion of possible alignment is unequivocally shattered. The first four lines of the earlier octet are changed to a heavier handed six and have an entirely colonial focus: “O'er countless numbers she, our Queen,/ Victoria reigns supreme;/ O'er Afric's sunny plains, and o'er/ Canadian frozen stream;/ To forge of war shall weld the chains of brotherhood secure;/ So to all in ev'ry clime our Empire shall endure.” The emphasis in these lines lies not in “brotherhood” but in the dominance shown by the empire over other regions. In fact the brotherhood is now fastened in “chains” suggesting the bonds of slavery that underlie the work and achievements of Clive and negation of Joshua's identity. The subsequent repetition of the last four lines of the song is put into a satirical context which determines what judgement the playwright wants the audience to come to.

The first segment of the extract with the whole family on stage is directed to the audience and delivered in continuous rhyming couplets with frequent echoes and repetitions. The satirical nature of the text is made abundantly clear from the very beginning in this way. Despite the serious undercurrents of the thematic elements, Churchill portrays them using comedy verging on the farcical. The instant connection that is established with the audience allows them to collude with the playwright's message and form uninhibited judgements. Clive stands at the centre of this Victorian patriarchal society presented on stage as he leads off with “This is my family.” He epitomises the attitudes represented in the songs, a distinction made clear by his direct repetition of the “home” and “roam” rhyming found in the first song in his first speech. All the other characters are described according to their relationships and aspirations to him or his expectations. He constantly remains at the forefront despite the continuous exchanging of brief focus from one character to another. It is with his introduction and his opinions that his family is made known to the audience. In the case of Victoria, Maud and Ellen, he dictates their silence: “No need for any speeches by the rest,/ My daughter , mother-in-law, and governess.” Betty states that “what men want is what I want to be” representing a typical Victorian gender stereotype; Joshua's slight alteration of this is “What white men want is what I want to be” enacts the loss of culture and self that the colonised encountered through racism; and Edward's more specific, “What father wants I'd dearly like to be” again raises questions of gender stereotyping but also of sexuality and familial relations.

The casting of the characters is an integral part of Churchill's criticism, commanded by her stage directions. Most of the characters are inverted in a particularly meaningful way that corresponds with their person and also portrays a visual and physical incongruity that is comic and pervasive. Victoria, Clive's daughter is played by an inanimate object - “a dummy”. Young girls were supposed to be submissive and quiet so Churchill reduces her to nothing but a prop. Edward, a young boy, is “played by a woman”. This may point towards an incarnation of his effeminacy, a trait typically not encouraged in British nineteenth century society. Thus, when Clive discloses that “I'm doing all I can/ To teach him to grow up to be a man”, the audience see a physical manifestation of the dramatic irony that Edward can never be what his father wishes. In a similar way, the actor playing the African slave Joshua is “played by a white”. In Clive's introduction, the audience is misled somewhat: “My boy's a jewel.” At this moment, the audience would be forgiven for assuming that the “boy” being discussed was in fact Clive's son as visually this makes 'sense'. When it is mentioned that “the fellow's black”, the audience does a double take. Joshua confirms the discrepancy when he exclaims: “My skin is black but oh my soul is white” - Churchill makes him white as it is what he misleadingly wants to be. The confusion that may be created contributes to the tone of chaotic comedy in which appearances are encouraged not to be trusted.

Betty is embodied in a male actor as she is what men want her to be – she physically becomes a “man's creation”. She is presented as an ideal Victorian woman but by putting her traits in a male body produces many comedic moments in her interaction with her husband. Her doting words: “I thought you would never come. The day's so long without you” seem absurd in the actor's mouth.

It may seem that the dramatic qualities that Churchill employs to depict her criticism in this extract from Cloud Nine are fairly obvious and unsubtle. The satire is made intensely visual but it also interacts with the audience in a complex way. As audience expectations of what character is 'supposed' to be played by what sort of actor are subverted, the audience's own stereotypes are being confronted and also what is anticipated when one goes to see a play is challenged.