Caryl Churchill, Cloud Nine

Andrew Wyllie (University of the West of England)

Ed. by Aleks Sierz, Independent Scholar - Europe
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1979

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

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Cloud Nine

(1979) was Caryl Churchill’s fourth major full-length stage play to be produced, and has proved to be one of her most durable works, with a number of revivals in the 1990s and 2000s. Politically it is a major play of its time, while also possessing a resonance with gender-political awareness across a much broader temporal canvas.

The play’s significance extends across three major areas: form, content and developmental method. The first two of these areas continue to spur considerable scholarly discussion, while the third has its own historical interest. Churchill has always been a formal innovator, and deeply concerned with the relationship between form and content, going so far as to say: “Playwrights don’t give answers, they ask questions. We need to find new

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2410 words

Citation: Wyllie, Andrew. "Cloud Nine". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 August 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=14736, accessed 20 April 2024.]

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