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JAMES WALSH is moved by a provocative and original take on the relationship between ecology and architecture, and a plea to work with, not against, the materials and minerals of our world
The true cost of ‘black gold’
MAYER WAKEFIELD recommends a sharply nuanced drama on generations subjugated by oil exploitation
An immersive, participatory display by a queer Australian Aboriginal performer, and a rebellious unravelling of traditional Scottish dance
EWAN CAMERON witnesses a political farce that lacks a clear message
EWAN CAMERON picks out two fascinating music shows, fusing the Korean, and the Celtic, with the modern
BENJAMIN POTHIER suggests that Palaeolithic cave paintings in Spain point to the ceremonial use of hallucinogenic flora
The bard confirms that the right has a humour bypass, and replays the English Revolution on period instruments
Oil
Almeida Theatre
London N1
4/5
NO WONDER it took Ella Hickson over six years to write Oil.
Her exploration of Britain’s relationship with the black gold is so wide in scope that, in just under three hours, Hickson guides her audience from Cornwall in 1889 to a bleak, mid-21st-century dystopian Britain via Persia, Libya and beyond.
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SIMON PARSONS applauds the timely revival of a play about solidarity and betrayal within Britain’s Pakistani community
KEITH RICHMOND relishes a superbly conceived modern version of Aeschylus’ drama of murderous family succession
PAUL FOLEY revels in the coolest, most joyful piece of theatre you’ll get this summer
MAYER WAKEFIELD is gripped by a production dives rapidly from champagne-quaffing slick to fraying motormouth