Watching society change from 'Cloud Nine'

Sarah Rebell Guest Writer

When many people think of the phrase “cloud nine,” a state of bliss comes to mind. But for Jessica Zalin ’08, it is the title of her senior project in drama. Zalin is directing a play by the groundbreaking British playwright Caryl Churchill. Zalin helms a unique ensemble piece that dares to cross centuries, break gender boundaries and address the tensions of sexuality and sexual relations.

“[The play] is an exploration of the evolution of sexual repression in England,” said Felix Steiny ’09, who plays the servant Joshua in Act I and Gerry, the lover of another character, in Act II. The first act of “Cloud Nine” depicts a British family living in Africa during the Victorian era. Act II follows the same family, its members having aged 25 years and living in London in 1979.

While several of the characters appear in both acts, Churchill wrote into the script that the actors should be double-cast and play two entirely different parts—different ages, genders and races. Churchill uses this tool carefully, implementing it only when nontraditional casting will reveal something about a character. For example, a white man plays an assimilated black servant, an adult male plays a little girl and a female plays a closeted gay boy.

The unusual casting challenged the actors, encouraging them to be more open about approaching and understanding their characters. Austin Riotte ’08, who is also one of the play’s musical composers, plays Victorian housewife Betty in the first act and her grown son Edward in the second.
“All the things I’m forced to do,” said Riotte, “like wearing a corset and being subservient to my husband, are looked at differently when a woman does it. People can’t rationalize it as just a period piece. When it’s a guy, it becomes uncomfortable.”

“I think the reason why the doubling works so well,” said Riotte, “is Edward [in Act II] is like Betty [in Act I].” Riotte considers both of his characters to be quiet and introverted. “You see the same actor playing both roles and see they are really not that different,” he said.

“Cloud Nine” is not a musical, but the cast members will perform four songs live. Two of the songs are original pieces of music that Churchill used in the show’s first production. Churchill wrote the lyrics for the other two songs, with the melodies composed by some of the cast members. Riotte wrote the music to the opening piece, “Come Gather Sons of England,” while Zalin and Ottavia De Luca ’08 co-wrote the title song “Cloud Nine.” The cast also choreographed a dance to go along with that number.

An experimental theater company in London initially developed the play in the 1970s. “The show began as a series of workshops where the actors talked about their own sexual experiences and relationships,” said Zalin. “[Churchill] went away to write and came back with ‘Cloud Nine.’ ”

The play’s title, a common saying for euphoria, refers its run in the ’70s. “In the original workshops, the owner of the studio space they rehearsed in used the phrase ‘cloud nine’ to refer to orgasms,” said Zalin.

The drama department’s hands-on Introduction to Theater-Making class inspired Zalin to take on the play for her senior project. She took particular interest in the different worlds presented. For example, the set of the first act is entirely black and white, exaggerating the characters’ ascetic Victorian lifestyle in a world devoid of color.

The cast also discussed the difference in the dynamics between the first and second acts. “The first act is so highly farcical. It’s very much a blown-up caricature,” said Baize Buzan ’10, who plays the closeted eight-year-old Edward in the first act and his elderly mother in the second. “It’s a very highly explosively emotional environment,” she said.

For the second act, splashes of color are added to the set, but the much of the old world remains. “Everything that was present in the Victorian times [of Act I] is still present [in Act II], just in a different form,” said Zalin. “That shows how the characters move on but still don't reach their final goals.”

Despite the significant disparities in time, place and even writing style between the acts, “Cloud Nine” essentially tells a single story. “It’s a play about people,” said Buzan, “and the way the world in which they are played out affects and determines them.”