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.