Cultural Memory in El Séptimo Cielo: An Intercultural Staging of Caryl Churchill’s Cloud Nine

Abstract

Given its production credentials one might have expected El Séptimo Cielo (2002), the Spanish version of Caryl Churchill’s Cloud Nine (1979), to be a huge success.¹ Ángeles González-Sinde, the translator and scriptwriter, has been very much in the public eye since she won a Goya, the most prestigious Spanish film award; José Pascual, the director, is much acclaimed for his outstanding productions of David Mamet, Bertolt Brecht and Stephen Berkoff, among others. The cast included many famous theatre, film and television actors; the play was promoted by the venue as Caryl Churchill’s ‘most brilliant play’,² and Churchill herself approved of the translation.³