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Caryl Churchill's "Cloud Nine"---A Play of Mind-Bending Importance

     Caryl Churchill's play was written from 1978-1979 for the Joint Stock Theatre Group, This group forms a workshop surrounding a particular issue. The playwright, director, and actors will research the issue, and afterwards the playwright will go away to write and return to the company for a rehearsal and re-write period. For this play, the workshop lasted for three weeks, the writing period for twelve, and the rehearsal for six (Worthen, 2004).
     The issue surrounding this particular play is sexual politics. The play takes on almost a phenomenologist approach, as from the onset of the workshop, the actors and playwright were to talk about their different attitudes and experiences. They also explored stereotypes and role reversals, and researched the issue in books and through interviews. Chruchill drew on this inspiration and also focused on a parallel between colonial and sexual oppression when writing her play (Worthen, 2004).