"Oil" frames wide political issues through a deeply personal story, as the history and future of the oil industry on this planet is told through multiple scenes of a mother and daughter traveling through time - originally met in a bitter Cornwall winter as oil promises an escape and a light that never goes out, moving forward to the middle east as British companies take over the gulf and the same woman gets involved with a British oil company representative, into the 70s when she's a top-level oil exec right at the time when Libya starts retaking the rights to exploit its own oil, and on into futures both not-so-distant and very-much-distant. It's a beautifully presented and performed production, with the contrasting personal narrative of a mother and rebellious daughter playing with and against the wider historic narrative, with elements reflecting each other. Ella Hickson's script requires grand resources to give this personal story scale and to capture the very distinctive tone, somewhere between strict reality and abstract lesson-play, and Paige Rattray's production mostly captures this very well.
That may not be apparent in the first scene, which is both very dimly lit and acted in broad-to-the-point-of-incomprehension cornish accents. It does feel a little bewhildering watching grim happenings in a frozen cabin in the middle of nowhere (or in this case, on a platform on top of a pile of black dust). But the following four scenes are grand contrasts, well lit, clear and played with power by the company. Brooke Satchwell as protagonist May, and Charlotte Friels as the daughter Amy carry the bulk of the evening, with the rest of the cast playing various cameos as lovers, friends, enemies and business associates in smaller but striking cameos. The in-the-round-staging means that this story stays close and personal even as it traverses time and place widely, coming to a strong ending that lays bare where we're headed.
This is compelling, thoughtful political theatre presented lushly and grandly in a way that still lands powerfully. Absoultely worth catching.
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