Welcome and thoughts on "Cloud Nine"

Hello and welcome to our conversation! Please join in and add your 2 (or more) cents.

I am currently co-teaching a play by Carol Churchill called "Cloud Nine" to a class of Seniors. It has been an interesting endeavor, to say the least. If you are not familiar with the play, Act 1 takes place in an English colony in Africa in the Victorian era, and Act 2 takes place in the 1970's in London. The characters in Acts 1 and 2 are mostly the same, and they have aged only about 30 years even though the time has advanced about 100 years. Gender and socioeconomic roles are challenged, especially when the changes in each character are analyzed from act to act.

While this play has a lot of value, it has been difficult to teach to a classroom of 17 and 18 year old boys because of the prominent gay themes. Toward the beginning of the play, one of the male students asked me if he thought that it was "fair" that he was being taught this play. I didn't know what to say. I tried to express that it was important to be able to read and examine socially difficult material while in high school because it is important to be able to deal with the material as an adult, or something like that.

The students read the parts of the play and have become more comfortable talking about the situations and language in the play but I still don't know how they feel about studying the work. Has anyone taught this play? Has anyone had any similar experiences with other pieces? Any thoughts?