This evening, the Lord Leebrick Theatre Company will present “Cloud 9,” a comedy that focuses on sexuality, gender roles, prejudice and sexism over the course of a century.
Director Corey Pearlstein said the play addresses issues especially relevant to young people.
“This is not your mother’s play,” he said.
Pearlstein explained that playwright Caryl Churchill wrote “Cloud 9” in order to challenge both liberal and conservative social constructs. The first act of the play is set around a family in 1880 Africa, which is inundated with Victorian mores and British colonialism.
Act 2 finds most of the same characters in London in 1980, but they have only aged 25 years. It seems the social rules and sexual repression have evaporated along with the British Empire; however a loss and longing still remain.
“Characters also change race and gender,” Pearlstein said.
“The play examines the failures of the social construct … by having people fuck a lot and saying all the terrible things that come out of people’s mouths,” Pearlstein said. “And it’s funny!”
In the first act, actor Scott Weddell plays Joshua, a black servant to Clive, a British patriarch.
“Caryl Churchill [the playwright] intentionally wrote the part of Joshua to be played by a white actor,” Weddell said, “because white people wanted their native servants to ‘act white.’”
In the second act, Weddell plays Gerry, “a gay, red-haired Scorpio in London.”
Ariel Pearlson also changes character and roles and described acting as “my art and my passion.”
Pearlson plays Mrs. Saunders in the first act, a character she described as “a bit of a renegade. A bit of a contrast to the other women who are trying to fit the norm. She’s not a hypocrite.”
But in the second half of the play, Pearlson switches gears to play Victoria, a young woman who is played by a doll in the first act.
“Victoria is a woman who goes on a journey in the scope of the play. The second act is her journey towards finding her own integrity,” said Pearlson, adding that “every character goes on a journey.”
Weddell emphasized that students would find the subject and humor of “Cloud 9” especially entertaining because “nothing else in town is as weird, absurd, current, on the ball … down the hatch.”
Director Pearlstein also thinks “Cloud 9” presents subjects vital to the University community. In an effort to expand the viewing audience of Lord Leebrick Theatre, Pearlstein is offering up to 60 student tickets for $5 for this evening’s preview and 25 tickets for $7 Saturday’s show.
Performances are every Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening at 8 p.m. Sunday matinee performances will be given January 28 and February 4. Regular ticket prices are $11 on Thursday and Sunday and $15 on Friday and Saturday.
The Lord Leebrick Theatre is located near the Wild Duck at 540 Charnelton St., between fifth and sixth avenues. For more information or reservations, call the box office at (541) 465-1506.