Cloud Nine

'What men want is what I want to be.'

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 1970s 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 Cloud Nine is a landmark play which continues to challenge how we think about gender, power and the legacies of empire.

The play was first staged by Joint Stock and premiered in London at the Royal Court Theatre in 1979. This edition was published alongside the revival at the National Theatre, London, in 2026, directed by Dominic Cooke.