By Hana Teraie-WoodBefore reading our review check out our preview of the production on the ((URY PLAYER)) here!
In a trademark Churchill style, this distance is closed down by actors playing two or more parts. Steven Jerram’s switch from Clive to Edward suggested a causality between Clive’s patriarchal dominancy and Edward’s sexual oppression. Jerram’s switch from a character of overbearing forcefulness to one of conscientiousness and sensitivity was incredible, both were acted convincingly and neither bore a trace of the other. Out of her three roles, Emma Henderson’s portrayal of Betty was the standout performance; her monologue alone onstage was incredibly touching, revealing her loneliness and sexual suppression shared by her younger self from the first act. This connection was one of the many made with aid of the large projections made at the back of the stage, as videos of characters from the first half ‘spoke’ to the characters of the second half. This was particularly poignant when Clive, who wants to change his sex, is revisited by the younger Edward (Flora Ofilvy), visually projecting his inner self who is by nature a woman.
And you can hear Hana's full audio review of the production as well as our other reviews and previews in 'YorWorld' on the ((URY PLAYER)) here now!
Cloud 9 is the first completely student run effort from TFTV, and what a triumph it was. Clever, nuanced, delightful and tragic, this production matched all of the best traits of Caryl Churchill’s script to take it beyond the level of a “student play”. For the first time I couldn’t feel the weeks of effort from cast and crew, because the calibre of the performances made it feel effortless.
Casting choices were impeccable. The real treat was Tom Giles’s performance as Betty. As the tallest and slenderest male of the cast, his clumsy effeminate manoeuvres such as hugging a (shorter) Steven Jerram from behind elicited much unaffected laughter from the audience. This succeeded in communicating Churchill’s reflection on the inherently funny role of women in society, a matter only made explicit when we see its characteristics enacted by a male. What is more ridiculous, a man playing a woman or a woman playing this role on a daily basis? This well acknowledged insight into Victorian social constructs is not ground-breaking stuff, which allows the first act to be kept light-hearted whilst it makes its socio-political mockeries. The intermitting sing-a-longs sung by all the cast helped add to the joyous satire of the first half, with the samba influenced tracks by Bengee Gibson creating an exotic spatial distance between the colonial setting and our contemporary habitation.
In a trademark Churchill style, this distance is closed down by actors playing two or more parts. Steven Jerram’s switch from Clive to Edward suggested a causality between Clive’s patriarchal dominancy and Edward’s sexual oppression. Jerram’s switch from a character of overbearing forcefulness to one of conscientiousness and sensitivity was incredible, both were acted convincingly and neither bore a trace of the other. Out of her three roles, Emma Henderson’s portrayal of Betty was the standout performance; her monologue alone onstage was incredibly touching, revealing her loneliness and sexual suppression shared by her younger self from the first act. This connection was one of the many made with aid of the large projections made at the back of the stage, as videos of characters from the first half ‘spoke’ to the characters of the second half. This was particularly poignant when Clive, who wants to change his sex, is revisited by the younger Edward (Flora Ofilvy), visually projecting his inner self who is by nature a woman.
These choice of doublings have, from what I perceive, been altered from the original. If this is proved accurate, the team behind this TFTV production have done incredibly well to create articulate and insightful connections not explicit in Caryl Churchill’s script. Cathy’s (Rory Hern) doubling as the Soldier killed in Afghanistan gave the play a contemporary edge as well as a foreboding subtext. The child, who plays with a toy gun, holds a real gun in Act One when playing Joshua and is killed as the dead Soldier by another gun in Act Two. From a production that made use of very few props, the moment when Cathy plays on the swing stays imprinted in the mind as a reminder of the child’s innocence which through Hern’s other characters is corrupted and lost. With an unusual level of clarity and skill, these students delivered a play with a confidence and ability that puts them a cut above the rest.
And you can hear Hana's full audio review of the production as well as our other reviews and previews in 'YorWorld' on the ((URY PLAYER)) here now!
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