A play with a satirical lining

Theatre

When British playwright Caryl Churchill penned her 1970s witty political satire, Cloud Nine, it resulted in a classic of modern theatre.

Churchill's biting observation of gender, race and politics won her an Obie Award in 1981 and 25 years later the play is no less amusing and still very relevant.

This month the University of Adelaide Theatre Guild is bringing Cloud Nine to stage, featuring an ensemble cast.

The storyline is split over two acts - the first set in sexually repressed 19th century colonial Africa and the second, 100 years later, in 1970s liberated London where, miraculously, the actors have only aged a quarter of a century in the process.

The other twist is that the actors double - and sometimes triple - in the roles.

Cloud Nine is about relationships - between men and women, men and men, women and women. It is also about sex, work, mothers, Africa, power, children, grandmothers, politics, money and Queen Victoria.

Fast-forwarding a century between the two Acts shows the audience just how far sexuality has changed in 100 years. The actors not only switch roles and genders, but personalities as well.

The first act, like the society it shows, is male dominated and firmly structured. In the second act, more energy comes from the women and the gays. The actors change for the better, with more feminine and less authoritarian figures.

Semi-retired English teacher David Mitchell plays a major role in Cloud Nine, assuming the part of "Clive" in Act 1 and "Cathy" in Act 2.

Clive is a colonial administrator in Africa in the 1880s, who imposes his ideals on his wife and family. Cathy is the four-year-old tomboy of a liberated lesbian in the 1970s, the height of the sexual revolution.

"This is probably the most challenging stuff I have ever done because not only do I switch genders, but I go from playing someone of my vintage, albeit an appalling racist colonial administrator, to a precocious 4-year-old child singing offensive nursery rhymes," David said.

"The first act is very satirical and highlights the hypocrisy of the time. The second act is much freer - there's still a lot of hypocrisy though, because while people pretend to be liberated, they are still manipulating others for their own purposes.

"This play is for a fairly educated audience and those who appreciate satire. It is visually bizarre in places - think of Little Britain - and it makes a big comment about society and sexual freedoms," David said.

David graduated with an Arts degree from the University of Adelaide in 1969. He has been immersed in the theatre world for the past 40 years, in both an acting and directing capacity.

Cloud Nine opens at the Little Theatre, The Cloisters, University of Adelaide, on Saturday, May 6. It then runs Tuesday to Saturday, May 9-13 and 16-20 at 7.30pm. Tickets $25/$20. Bookings (08) 8303 5999 or the Guild website.

Story by Candy Gibson

Special Uni price

The Theatre Guild has introduced a special price in 2006 for University of Adelaide staff and students. It is offering $15 tickets (on presentation of staff/student cards) for the Tuesday performances of its three main productions - Cloud Nine in May, Julius Caesar in August, and The Real Inspector Hound in October.