Cloud Nine NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (40)
See it if Enjoy gender-bending, coming-of-age, and send-ups of British Imperial stereotypes. Inventive staging and seating
Don't see it if You can't handle homosexual themes and sitting in seats that make airplane economy seating feel like lots of legroom
See it if you enjoy social commentary plays by one of the best. The play poses more questions than it answers but that's the point,
Don't see it if edgy gender bending nonlinear plays don't entertain you. This is a heady piece and at time almost "absurdist."
See it if You like smart plays that take focus to understand.
Don't see it if You can't sit still for three hours.
See it if you want to have a chance to revisit Caryl Churchill's classic play which remains surprisingly fresh 30 years on. Excellent performances.
Don't see it if you can't manage miserably uncomfortable barrack seating, an overly long second act, somewhat graphic sexual content
See it if You want to see an intelligent Absurdist play that is well done.
Don't see it if You're not aware of Caryl Churchill or Absurdist works.
See it if You like comedies about gender and sexual confusion
Don't see it if Don't like gender bending plays
See it if you enjoy Churchill's other work, want to revisit and re-evaluate the themes of gender identity and patriarchy, and are a fan of the actors.
Don't see it if are unprepared to endure extremely uncomfortable seating for 160 minutes.
See it if you want to experience good gender-bending and attitudes of different eras. I don't think any scenario was left out. Mostly well acted.
Don't see it if If having a playwright experiment with different sexual attitudes. Seating is uncomfortable, but worth it if you like the subject matter.
Critic Reviews (35)
"Under the sensitive and surefooted direction of James Macdonald, 'Cloud Nine' offers a smart social critique that transcends time. This play could easily be a facile exercise of modern theater folk sneering back at a shameful past. Instead, the shame extends easily into the 20th century and beyond."
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"A superbly acted production by James Macdonald that shows it to be both fresh as paint and irretrievably kissed by time...'Cloud Nine' that makes enormous demands on its cast, and, thanks to the canny direction of Macdonald the company assembled for this production brilliantly walks the fine line between caricature and real feeling that the author demands."
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"'Cloud Nine' feels fresh, crazy, and relevant enough to have been written yesterday...That is not to say it works perfectly. Macdonald and his cast haven't yet unlocked the same playful verve in Act II, leaving the last hour of the two-and-a-half-hour evening feeling drearier and less specific than it should...The rest of the vehicle of 'Cloud Nine' still looks and smells new, sure. But the lessons underneath are as timeless and rewarding as they come."
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"Expertly done and fun as all this gender and role switching is, once you catch on to the satirical expose of Victorian hypocrisy, the humor wears a bit thin. What's more, the gender and race blind casting tends to make the revelations about each character's true nature somewhat predictable. Consequently, one can't help wishing Mr. Macdonald had speeded things up...It's still a provocative entertainment. But don't expect to be on cloud nine in terms of your physical comfort zone."
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" Caryl Churchill’s astounding play is bravely and carefully revived...James McDonald has concocted beautifully nuanced, delicate characters... Trouble is, I missed some danger. There’s a lot of laughter in this play, though I longed to find that gut turning, uncomfortable laughter that often accompanies this kind of madness. There’s a forceful, tightness in the first act that has to push us into the place-finding troubles of the second. This metaphorical corset isn’t tied very tightly."
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"Much of 'Cloud Nine' is a Feydeau farce without doors. It’s a shame it flattens as it progresses, but it’s still a memorable jumble of sex and sexuality, no doubt less shocking than it was thirty-five years ago but still fresh."
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"The accuracy of cut-glass English and regional London accents may waver occasionally but by and large, the character and gender swapping cast capture the burdens of empire and the permissive levity required by the play's two halves. Director James MacDonald has the 'Cloud Nine' pace merrily galloping the round while the play itself is a punctual reminder of what bad history can breed."
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"I enjoyed this entertaining production, with its seven impressively versatile cast members energetically directed by James MacDonald. That the play remains relevant I find beyond dispute...In a play that purportedly explores colonialism and deliberately casts a white actor as a black servant, it seems a missed opportunity in a production in 2015 for the director to have hired only white actors...The playwright’s failure to deal in any direct way with race dates her play."
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