An Exploration of the Gendered Stylization of the Body in Caryl Churchill’s Cloud Nine

What has been undertaken in the present study is the exploration of Caryl Churchill’s selected drama Cloud Nine(1978) with an eye to Judith Butler’s theorizations in regard to “gender performativity”.  According to Judith Butler, gender identity is a sociopolitical construction that achieves legitimacy and naturality via perpetual observation, repetition and “a stylized repetition of acts”. This stylized repetition of acts along with continuous surveillance, observation and correction leads to the construction of gender identity. In Cloud Nine (1978),we witness how Caryl Churchill(1938) , who occupies a lofty position in the world of theater due to her theatrical expertise, realizes Butler’s conviction and vividly portrays the stylization of gender identity under the sovereignty and hegemony of  phallocentrism and heterosexuality.