Oil

The Arts Desk

Oil begins in 1889, with no escape from the bitter cold but by the sparse candlelight dimly lighting the table. But then an American man appears, promising the light and heat that comes with burning oil. The family at the farm have no interest in this new thing, but May is pregnant and her eyes look to the horizon and one night she needs to take a walk, and she keeps on walking.

Fast-forward a few years and we arrive in Tehran, Persia, 1908. A desperate mother seeks work serving diplomats and military men whilst her daughter, fluent in Farsi, mourns the loss of her teddy bear. May is not silent in her emancipation, as she speaks freely in her opinions alongside fellow waiter who accuses the men of scheming against the young king, getting him drunk and offering him less than the fruits of his land's resources.

Time Out

Time Out

Back to Britain 1970 Hampstead and May is an exec of an oil company, regularly under addressed as foreign companies talk instead to her male colleague. 15yr old daughter, Amy is less than impressed and as she explores her sexuality and pushes the boundaries of her and her mother's relationship, we can't help but feel an unspoken love and understanding between the two strong independent women, with high hopes for the future. Amy converses with our foreign visitor in Farsi, much to her mother's distraction, and the lack of empathy and mutual understanding between nations when this encounter is denied, is gaping and obvious. ('Libya is in Africa, not the middle east')

The Telegraph

Persia - Our young females are getting more vocal as a daughter comes to Persia to build a life among new friends. She speaks their language and denies all links to her own culture. Her protest against her mother, who works for an oil company. This tone quickly turns on it's head as her new friend tells her to be grateful for her mother and for what she has - for she has been left with nothing from the years of war that have gripped Persia (now Iran). Is she so unaware as to deny her own part in the system? Is she so ungrateful to those who lost their lives in her country so she should have heat and light in her home? It's a plaguing thought for an audience.

The Arts Desk

Back in Britain, Cornwall, 2051, a cold, oil-less Britain. When a Chinese saleswoman appears selling nitro-fusion.

It's a scarily probable future, where energy resource is so sparse that it costs a fortune to use and so we are thrown back to layering our clothing and shivering even in our own homes. When along comes another resource; cheaper, ever-lasting, independently controlled. It seems that we will not be content with emptying our own planet of its resources, but we will travel to the moon to exploit that too. Where will it end, when will humanity orbit away from exploiting everything it touches?

Oil was an intimate exploration of the mother/daughter relationship through time, packing a powerful anti-exploitation punch thrown in the direction of oil companies and entitled and ungrateful Brits. It was a fly the flag moment for strong female characters, grasped beautifully by the talented Anne Marie Duffy and Yolanda Kettle. it also warns of the consequences of misunderstanding being 'strong' with being 'unfeeling' or 'greedy'.

oneworld.org

Some brilliant writing (Ella Hickson), some great live music/sound, minimalist lighting, projections and minimalist staging from Vicky Mortimer that worked so well to give us the versatile set that a story spanning so many generations and locations needs. And two months later, I still can't stop thinking about it.

A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing

whatsonstage.com

The Young Vic's A Girl is A Half-Formed Thing has had good reviews across the board from the critics.

I have to applaud the efforts of Aoife Duffin, who holds the stage with a raw quality we learn to appreciate quickly.

But I'm not entirely convinced.

I have admitted many times before that I struggle to appreciate one-woman shows. This was slightly different in that, the title suggested she wasn't just a woman. She appears fragmented, which is no surprise as we progress to learn about her past.

Aoife Duffin rises to the challenge of multi-rolling... or is she replaying these moments from her past in her head? We never really find out. So instead we allow ourselves to forget that it is just Duffin onstage and are captivated by the puzzle before us.

From troubled siblings, to an unappreciative mother, to an abusive uncle - Duffin's character finds herself swept away in seeking love elsewhere, which often leads her into manipulative relationships and in danger of being mistreated.

Overall Duffin aided the script to bring it a tragically living, breathing power, with a stellar performance from our lead which helped earn her a place on the shortlist for the Emerging Talent Award at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2016.

(Written in 2016 - delayed post)

School Swap: Korea Style

scn0s.com

Kids in South Korea can rack up a huge 90 hours of learning in just 5 days. In fact, it is even considered the norm. Kids here in the UK spend only 6.5hrs or so at school each day - sometimes less - dedicating themselves to education. Of course there are exceptions, but the differences across the two education systems, are staggering and plain to see.

South Korea is rated at the top of the PISA education rankings table, Wales is (at the time of broadcast) rated 36th. However, if you look at the happiness levels of the same pupils, it becomes increasingly obvious that South Korea falls at the bottom of the table. So why the disparity?

bbc.co.uk

The suicide rate of young men aged between 10 and 30 in South Korea, is the highest in the world. we meet one man, who lost two close friends to suicide along the way, put down to educational pressures and exertion. And with up to 18hrs of studying a day leaving kids sleeping at their desks, it's no wonder that the figures are that bad. In a country that's economy has rocketed over the last ten years, where illiteracy feels almost phased out and where education is embedded as part of religious ceremony, exam results might just be the most important date in the calendar, which is an undeniable achievement, but is also putting an incredible amount of pressure on young people.

bbc.co.uk

In South Korea teachers are respected and education is valued, seeing approx 99% of students continue to study beyond the age of 16, as opposed to around 50% of Brits. As our Welsh students maintain, there is definitely something to be learned from their education system, though perhaps the way forward is to find a middle ground. There needs to be a culture of self-improvement, a desire to be educated in the UK, that simply isn't there at the moment. The 6 kids seemed to unanimously agree that a system somewhere in between the two cultures would be a healthy compromise. A system that allows time for creativity, for free expression for recreation and relaxation but one that also values learning, offers additional support and encourages educational engagement.

dailymail.co.uk

The show couldn't have chosen more polite kids to partake in the 3 day experiment. After 3 days of intense study and lack of sleep, our kids from Wales were definitely pleased to get back to the UK's more relaxed approach to schooling. There may not be roads filled with private tutors open until 10pm, nor schools that are open until midnight but there is an education system that allows us not just to memorise facts but to learn, think, form our own opinions and challenge our knowledge and others. Perhaps trips like this are the way to inform our governments on how to reach a happy medium that will allow us all to better ourselves intellectually but never at the expense of our happiness.

Read more about the School Swap here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-38080752

Jade: Why I Chose Porn

notinor.com

Carly Rae Summers has nearly 60,000 followers on Twitter, can earn over £1200 for 2 day's work, travels the world and has 9 videos (and counting) to buy instantly from her website and top up her funds - it's what we all dream of right - success? BUT perhaps working with men endowed generously with 12-14 inches down below and constant clinical testing to rule out any potential dangers of the job - there is perhaps more to this lifestyle than meets the eye.

'Jade: Why I Chose Porn' allows Jade to tell her own story. It doesn't completely escape judgement, with Shooting PD Rachel Tracy offering up concern and doubt over Jade's choices - not on a moral level but enough to allow the audience too, to doubt Jade's convictions.

Huffington Post UK

It has though, allowed us at least to see Jade as herself. She is confident enough to not wear make-up on camera, she has gained body confidence from a growing career in porn. Jade is a normal 22yr old girl, and despite the immediate stereotypical opinions that seem to befoul sex-workers in general, she is largely portrayed as comfortable and in control. Jade isn't ill-informed, she isn't naive, she is a feminist who enjoys freedom, is driven in her work and has dreams of a lifestyle that many of us would be jealous of. But what does it take to get her there? And why porn?

StarNow

Jade knows about the danger of viewers believing that schoolgirl fetishes and patriarchal dominance throughout porn are reflections of the real world. She understands the danger of young men believing that women should perform sexually at their every whim. Jade herself experienced assault but we cannot cast a shadow on Jade as a victim, she is not a victim.

Despite physical trauma at work (the result of a personal choice not of anything untoward), a choice between a relationship or work and earlier haphazard videos where she didn't aways feel in control, Jade emerges strong.

This is a woman who has taken control. She means it literally when she says 'I've worked my ass off' to get where she is. Despite a largely negative reception to sex-work, porn is a controlled environment where the men treat you with respect and professionalism, where you can be confident that you won't catch diseases or infections and where you can stop, simply by saying so. She's been let down in the past, men in the real world have treated her (like many of us) with less respect than we deserve and now Jade has chosen a career that grabs that by the horns, has boosted her self-confidence, her body image and her bank account.

BrunchNews

But what about when you aren't attracted to your co-star - there isn't that connection that prompts you to WANT to have sex with one another. It seems for both parties that the sex that can follow a mutual non-feeling, fuels self-doubt and can leave both parties more vulnerable than before. Perhaps it's a bad day at work and all of us understand the self-doubt that can follow a moment where we have not performed to the best of our abilities. It's no different here. But it has got me thinking about the psychology of sex and about the way our minds and bodies react to sex in different environments and scenarios. Does sex as work change any of this? I'd certainly be interested to find out.

But in terms of Jade's own story, I'm glad that we were introduced to a girl who clearly expresses that she has CHOSEN to work in porn. Jade is the master of her own future and that is the thing I took from the 40min doc. And if it didn't quite manage to reserve it's judgement completely, at least it's heading in the right direction.

For Jade's own words, click the link: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/jade-buxton/carly-rae-summers-jade-buxton_b_11217422.html where most importantly she says:

"My ambition is to live life to the full and to keep on living by this mantra. I don’t regret any of the decisions I’ve made up until this point. Unlike many career focused people, I don’t have a five or ten year goal. As long as I’m successful and happy, then I’m hitting my target".