Cloud 9

With bold staging and sharp humour, Caryl Churchill’s iconic play rethinks gender, power, and the impact of empire. Directed by Dominic Cooke, this new production promises to surprise, challenge and entertain.

In Victorian Africa, where Clive is a colonial administrator and patriarch, his wife, son and servant struggle to be what’s expected of them.

When the family turn up a hundred years later in 70s London, what can they make of themselves in a world where empire lingers and freedom calls?

With its audacious theatricality and razor-sharp wit, Caryl Churchill’s (Top Girls) landmark work continues to challenge how we think about gender, power and the legacies of empire.

Dominic Cooke (Mrs Warren’s Profession) directs a bold new production that brings fresh urgency to this daring and satirical classic.

What the reviews say

"a great play, superbly staged, dazzlingly rich... piercingly relevant today" ~ WhatsOnStage

“Extraordinary and brilliantly provocative” ~ The Stage

"head-spinning anti-imperial satire.... this is an immaculate revival" ~ TimeOut

"Caryl Churchill’s magnificent Cloud 9 reaches for the skies – the National Theatre has done it proud" ~The Guardian

"All of it is gloriously good fun, with ideas about societal progress, both then and now, bubbling beneath it all" ~ London Theatre

“A triumphant revival affirms the Seventies comedy as a modern classic, its themes especially pertinent in today’s cultural landscape” ~ The Telegraph