Study Questions and Suggested Essay Topics
Study Questions
Discuss Churchill's choice to have actors play characters opposite their own sex. What are the theatrical and thematic implications of this choice?
How do the characters introduced for the first time in Act II represent the changes that have taken place between acts?
Discuss Betty's rediscovery of masturbation. How does this relate to her search for identity?
Suggested Essay Topics
Explain Harry's frenetic sexual activity in Act I. What are his motives in seeking sex with so many different people?
Explain Churchill's choice to have Clive return at the end of the play. Why is he no longer "proud to be British?"
Discuss Lin's role as a parent. How do her views about life and sexuality play out through Cathy?
Describe Clive's comparison of Betty's "dark lust" to the "treachery" of the natives. How, in his mind, are the two equal?
Explain how Churchill's writing process of basing a script on workshops with actors and directors might have influenced the story of Cloud 9?
