Where It All Goes Down
Colonial Africa/Modern-Day England
The setting of this play changes dramatically between Acts 1 and 2, taking us from Colonial British Africa during the Victorian Era to modern-day England. Okay, so maybe not totally modern-day, but 1979 when this play came out.
In the first act, Churchill hammers away at how sexism and racism are both basically caught up in the same logic of patriarchy. Clive's belief that he is the father and leader of both his family and of the local "natives" makes him convinced that he has the right to tell other people what to do and how to act. Additionally, the rural setting of Act 1 also gives the characters lots of opportunities to sneak into the wilderness and do some—how should we put this?—private things with one another.
In Act 2, we make the jump to modern-day England. The shift of setting achieves several contradictory things here: it shows us how much things have changed and it shows us how things have not changed enough.
True, Act 2 takes place in a world where the sun does set on the British Empire—England is no longer the colonial superpower it used to be. And thank goodness; about dang time. However, we learn that there is still an English presence in Northern Ireland, letting us know that the British Empire isn't quite a thing of the past.
And true, the world that the characters in Act 2 inhabit is way more sexually free-and-easy than the Victorian Era, but hey: anything is more sexually free and easy than the notoriously uptight Victorian Era. And things aren't completely equal. Edward worries that he will be sacked from his job if his boss finds out that he's gay. Martin still tries to control Victoria. Lin was physically abused by her husband. The struggle for equality ain't over 'til it's over, folks.