Cloud Nine | State Theatre Centre | Until 28 July | ★ ★ ★ ★ 

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In any role an actor seeks the opportunity to show range, whether it be displaying a performance that is remarkably different to the last thing you saw them in, or finding a storytelling arc that allows them to take you on an emotional journey.

In this production of Caryl Churchill’s Cloud Nine some Perth’s most impressive young actors get to show just how skilled they with a play that allows them to display a wide variety of talents, characters and emotions.

The play has two distinct and different acts. The first half takes place in an African colony in 1879. The second half is set in London one hundred years later. Oddly, some of the characters in the first act appear in the second act – but they are just 25 years older. Adding to the strangeness of proceedings they are portrayed by different actors in each half of the play.

Finally Churchill has some specific instructions about the casting of the characters, insisting that the character of Betty in the first act is played by a male actor, while the character of Joshua, a African servant, should be played by a white male actor. In the second act the role of Cathy, a very young girl is played by a male actor.

Act 1 introduces us to a group of English nobility doing their best for Queen and country, forging new frontiers for the British empire in Africa. Clive (Isaac Diamond) is the man of the house, defending the women from the terrors of the jungle and the restless natives, aided by his own native man servant Joshua (Cam Pollock). Clive’s wife Betty (Phil Lynch) is constantly offered advice on how to be a diligent spouse from her mother Maud (Lexie Sleet), while she also tries to keep son Edward (Phoebe Sullivan) under control.

Edward’s nursemaid Ellen is played by ‘Ana Ika, who also plays neighbour Mrs Saunders whose seeks shelter in the household when there is trouble with the natives – even though the family is “not her nearest neighbour”. Also entering into the fold is Harry (David Mitchell) who has been spending his time exploring the river and getting to know the local tribes.

The dialogue is funny, it’s a comical story filled with absurdity, farce and hi-jinks. The story pokes fun at Victorian sensibilities, their uptight attitudes to sex, homosexuality and the English need to command and conquer foreign lands.

The second act introduces us to a new setting, in a park in London in the late 1970s divorced housewife Lin (Lexie Sleet) watches over attention demanding daughter Cathy (Isaac Diamond). Lin tells fellow mum at the playground Victoria (‘Ana Ika) that she’s a lesbian and asks if Victoria would be interested in starting a relationship. Unsatisfied with her marriage to Martin (David Mitchell) she accepts the offer.

Victoria’s brother Edward (now played by Phil Lynch) is a gardener in the park, he meets his male lover Gerry (Cam Pollock). Victoria and Edwards mother Betty (now played by Phoebe Sullivan) arrives to declare she’s left their father and is now striking out on her own and discovering life as an independent woman.

The marvellous element of this play is its absurdity and strangeness, it’s a wonderful vehicle for these early career actors who, under the guidance of director Jeffrey Jay Fowler, get to show themselves paying distinctly different characters.

For Isaac Diamond he gets to go from pompous Lothario to kindergarten girl. Phoebe Sullivan transforms from a perky teenage boy to a weary woman in later life. Lexie Street discards a dowager dame to become a sexually liberated lesbian. They are appealing and challenging roles for the actors.

Churchill is a prolific playwright, having written almost 50 plays during her career. Her best known work is Top Girls a play which sees a variety of women from across the ages meeting for a dinner party. The play enjoyed a season at the Playhouse Theatre in 1986 with Jenny McNae, Vivienne Garrett and Shirley Van Sanden among it’s cast.

Perth Theatre Company staged another of Churchill’s plays A Number back in 2013 with Kim Gyngell and Brent Hill taking on the challenging roles. Churchill writes plays that allow actors to explore both drama and comedy, and underneath it all there’s always a commentary about society and our attitudes.

Cloud Nine which was written almost forty years ago, certainly feels slightly dated – there’s a farcical element in the plays first act that is reminiscent of comedy shows of the late 1970’s. The shenanigans between Clive and Mrs Saunders could have been out of a Monty Python skit and the depiction of native servant Joshua wouldn’t have felt out of place in an episode of The Goodies.

While the second half set in the 1970’s filled with story lines of gay cruising, women leaving their husbands, women leaving their husbands for lesbian lovers, and hints of incestuous relationships was probably quite shocking when the play debuted, it packs little punch in 2018.

Yet the story is ridiculous and hilarious, and the cast work for maximum laughs and it makes for an enjoyable experience as an audience member. It’s all a bit bonkers, but in the most marvellous way.

Get tickets to see Cloud Nine from the Western Australian Youth Theatre Company.          

Graeme Watson