Subverting Original Gender: Gender Performance in Caryl Churchill’s Cloud 9 Anonymous College

Cloud 9 by Caryl Churchill serves as a critique of British social standards—racism, colonialism, and especially sexism, gender roles, and sexual politics. The play takes place in two acts, with Act One set in Victorian Africa and Act Two in London in 1979, creating a parallel between a time of extreme sexual oppression and one of growing sexual liberation. In Caryl Churchill’s introduction to the play, she states: “The first act, like the society it shows, is male dominated and firmly structured. In the second act, more energy comes from the women and the gays” (Churchill). Not only does Churchill examine gender politics through the text of the play itself, she shows it through the performance itself. Therefore, gender itself becomes a performance. Judith Butler argues in “Gender Trouble” that gender does not exist beyond the cultural performances and actions that express it. This goes beyond the usual distinction of sex and gender, as many believe that sex is physical while gender is social and cultural. Butler challenges this to argue that sex, too, is a result of social and cultural practices. This theory of gender performance, specifically in regards to femininity, is expressed through Cloud 9 in the characters of Betty and...