 "Photo: The Associated Press")
At the start of St. Edward’s delightful new production of Caryl Churchill’s 1979 play “Cloud 9,” things are already amiss.
The play’s first act, set in British Africa during the 1870’s, begins with a musical introduction of the colonial governor Clive (played by Matt Radford) and his family, composed of his wife Betty, their two children and his mother-in-law. They are attended to by Joshua, an African local, and Ellen, their son’s governess (British for nanny).
So far so good, except the strapping, tall and very male Christopher Smith plays Betty in a full dress gown. The fully grown Sarah Burkhalter takes the role of their effeminate 11-year-old son, and a dummy doll embodies his younger sister Victoria. Joshua, here in the place of the noble savage, has lily white skin. Obviously, this is not your average staid drawing room comedy.
The gender and race bending works to accentuate what will become the first act’s overarching theme of the fluidity of identity.
Through the setting, Churchill uses the follies of Victorian Era morality as fodder for this hilarious piece of theater. She employs the pulpy conventions of Restoration sex comedies and French farce to wring out the most postmodern of themes.
While supposedly in Africa to tame the wild land with good British values, Clive and his merry band (later joined by Harry Begley, the prototypical British explorer, and Mrs. Saunders, a neighboring landowner) cannot keep their hands off of each other.
What follows is a game of subterfuge, secrets and lies to mask the reality of these people who all yearn for the same things: namely sex and excess and a little understanding. The action moves at a swift, breathless clip, stopping only for the occasional song and raucous laughter from the audience. The play manages to attack religion, colonialism, conservative social mores and marriage without knocking you over the head with a “message.”
This subversive ethos carries over to the second act, which takes place a century later in London. The characters have inexplicably aged only 25 years in that time span.
In this last act, the tone shifts to a more somber contemplation of the aftermath of the Sixties and studies the impact of loss on the psyche.
Victoria, now in her 30s, must grapple with the freedom that the sexual revolution hath brought. Married to a profane and philandering husband, she begins to explore alternative conceptions of both sexuality and family with lesbian friend Lin (Burkhalter) and her now gay brother (an excellent Jon Wayne Martin).
Comedic relief is provided by Gerry, Edward’s cockney lover, who waxes syphilic about his numerous brief sexual encounters.
Burkhalter’s performance deserves special notice as she lends Lin a heartbreaking emotional gravitas. Other performers — Radford, Babs George and Helyn Rain Messenger in particular — add heft and depth to the production.
Considering the amount of good humor this play possesses, one may believe that in the din of the spectacle, the play’s themes may be muffled. But there one would be wrong.
Too often thoughtful theater means boring theater; “Cloud 9” causes you to think while trying to keep yourself from falling out your seat from laughter.
As Messenger said in an interview, “Come with an open mind. There are things that you don’t usually see on stage, but it’s funny though. It’s not meant to offend.”
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