CLOUD 9
The first act sketches an archetypal English family of 1880 living in Africa. Clive, the head of the house, represents the worst of the Victorian paterfamilias: pompous, abusive, and chauvinistic, even while harboring a hypocritical lust for the forthright and independent Widow Saunders, who represents the best of the Victorian “New Woman.” Clive’s wife, Betty, represents (none of these characters can be said to “portray” anything resembling an individualized human being) the worst of the Victorian matron: sheltered, dependent, and supplicating, though secretly enamored of her husband’s best friend, Harry. Harry represents the best of the Victorian bachelor–clever, hearty, and adventurous, but for his homosexual attraction to Edward, Clive’s young son. Edward is repeatedly humiliated by his father for his “girlish” ways, but he worships his “Uncle Harry.” Completing the picture is baby Vicki, who is little more than a doll to her elders (the character is played by a stuffed doll); governess Ellen, as naive and helpless as the children she tends and the mistress she adores; grandmother Maud, the arbiter of moral rectitude (“I’m too old for all this–this fun!”); and the native houseboy Joshua, who makes lewd remarks to Betty even while assisting in the oppression of his countrymen. By the end of act one, everyone has been forced to do what they least want to do, and nobody is happy at all.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
The jury’s still out on Caryl Churchill. Cloud 9 was obviously intended to raise controversial issues, but a decade of changes has rendered it more reassuring than thought provoking. Taking that into consideration, however, there is nonetheless much to be enjoyed in Barto’s production.
