Oil

by Ella Hickson

Epic new play from an award-winning writer, exploring our reliance on a dwindling energy source.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Read For School

144 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 2016

Reviews

[Harry McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

15/7/21: Part Four of this play is set in 2021. When it premiered in 2016, that felt like a lifetime away. Its vision of another Iraq war felt tangible but still distant, as if behind frosted glass. Reading it now, in a hot summer, having recently dodged flash floods in London and hearing about record temperatures in the US and Canada, it feels practically optimistic. Hickson's recent observation that if anything we're much closer to the play's final section, set in 2051 seems to me accurate. We're not so much hurtling towards the cliff edge as we are mid-freefall.

26/11/17: "The Western Empire, like the Roman Empire that had come before, made the false assumption that their version of modernity was modernity itself." p. 124

When I say I think this is the most significant piece of British drama of the last 5 years, it's not because I haven't thought about it. It's unparalleled in it's ambition, and unmatched its it's poetry and imagery.

Hickson takes us from the dawning of the Age of Oil in 1889, to its end in 2051, by telling the story of May, who is 20 and pregnant in 1889. Over her extended life, the relationship between May and her daughter forms the dramatic tension that gives the play its spine. Through this relationship, everything is made present. Imperialism, class, gender, sex, energy, modernity: all are deeply felt in this play. How far will a woman go to give her daughter more than she was given? And when does that become incredibly dangerous?

Its ingenious structure brings to mind David Mitchell, with shades of Caryl Churchill in the form and politics. Its imagination is breathtaking. The way it was dismissed by its critics pisses me off to this day (it's been over a year since I saw it in previews.) God I love this play. I hope it gets the life and reputation it deserves.

[Lena , süße Maus]

maybe destruction in pursuit of fossil fuel is the friends we made along the way

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlotte, this one goes out to you!!

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's about the Eve's original sin repeating itself or something

[caitlin hickman · Rating 4 out of 5]

i actually really enjoyed it surprisingly. the jump between the first part and second was a little confusing with the characters though. the mother daughter dynamic between amy and may part 2 through to part 5 was depressing seeing the decline but then seeing a somewhat restoration of their relationship. the ending kinda threw me a little like what is a toroid???

[Connor Browne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not enjoy this at all

[Aaron Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

The kind of brilliant, life-changing play that asks you to rethink everything you think.

[frankie lochhead · Rating 3 out of 5]

i'm so severely sleep deprived that i cannot tell whether i loved or hated this play

[Lensi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This play shows how painfully dependent western civilisation is upon the resources extracted from other countries, how a privilege of education and wealth furthers and intensifies the gap to the countries whose riches we exploit. Ella Hickson masterfully illuminates how our creation of “modern” societies are dependent upon rapidly vanishing resources, continuously feeding into a system never to be satiated. It makes you painfully aware of the destitution which commercial greed became, creating a destruction of the planet we all share, but never own.

“War started the second the day we decided that we had a right to be warm even when the sun isn’t shining”

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is now the fourth of Hickson's plays I've read, and I always come away impressed by her ambition ... but disappointed at how her ambition almost always exceeds her grasp. I would say Oil is the most successful of her scripts yet, even though its conflation of the history of the carbon-based fuel industry with the dynamics of the mother-daughter relationship remains clunky, at best. As with the other three plays, there are scenes of power and theatrical magic - alongside ones that just seem to go nowhere and mark time.

[Carolin Kopplin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent play about the suppression of women in capitalism and the rise and fall of empires. A universal play. Saw it in the Almeida Theatre a few years ago.

[Beks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gosh I wish I'd seen Anne Marie Duff play May. A gorgeous epic about mothers and daughters, and the imperialist "progress" of the Age of Oil, through the centuries.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would definitely recommend. Epic drama across 150+ years about our resources. Very interesting and engaging, although maybe some scenes (like Part 4) didn't work for me 100%.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Marcus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great play! What an extraordinary journey. Loved it. Can't wait to see it.

[Melina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful play that stares right into our faces and narrates the horrors of the uses of oil.

[Brooklyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

A play about the succession of an oil empire, repeated sins, imperialism repeating itself, degrowth of oil, personal degrowth, generational degrowth. I love all of these topics but WOWOWOWOW this was terribly written.

She spends page after page setting up an absurd amount of blatant metaphors, and then has one character spit out exactly what the reader has picked up through context, in one terribly-cringy-completely-out-of-place line.

I mean seriously, you have spent an entire act telling us oil and imperialism are bad, but don’t worry you’re about to have may tell you “OIL AND IMPERIALISM ARE BAD, IF YOU DIDNT KNOW” (not and actual quote obviously, but I swear it might as well be)

The first act was lovely, honestly it was a 5/5, it was every other one that was terrible, I enjoyed May and Joss’ relationship. Amy and May would have had an interesting dynamic, but holy shit every line between them was so insane!! Like every line felt like I was descending further into a fever dream.

Read for ENGL 3009 Environment and literature. Book 2/6. The worst one of the class and of the year so far.

[Charlie Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

This play is pretty damn epic in scale. One woman ages a few decades across 150 years. Not just any 150 years, but the age of oil. This play is obviously somewhat in debt to Caryl Churchill's Cloud Nine, but in this case I think the student surpasses the master of the formal experiment. May and Amy's relationship holds the whole thing together and the first and final scenes bookend the play well. I am curious how they managed to pull off 5 different sets across the 5 acts over two and a half hours. They must have literally had a huge number of stage hands sweep over the stage and completely transform it. I really wish I could've seen this.

I always try and think of similar plays in my reviews to give people some indication of what it's like. In this case, it's very much an issue play, reminiscent of Kirkwood's Chimerica, or perhaps Bartlett's Earthquakes in London.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow wow WOW!! So miffed I didn't get to see this in performance when it premiered at the Almeida. What a fantastic piece of writing. Oil is such a timely play and SOOO expertly crafted; the dialogue is in equal measures funny, shattering and ragingly political. Hickson's prowess seriously comes through in this play, in much the same way as it did in The Writer with notes of Caryl Churchill underscoring the whole piece. Nothing but marvelous. If you enjoyed this I would thoroughly recommend Walden by Amy Berryman, Image of an Unknown Young Woman by Elinor Cook, Distant Early Warning by Tatty Hennessy and anything by Caryl Churchill, especially Cloud Nine, Far Away and Escaped Alone.

[namatayi · Rating 5 out of 5]

i was speechless when i finished this book. truly speechless. we did a live reading of it in my ecotheatre class and im almost glad i didn’t read it by myself reading it with a class with my teacher doing the stage directions i was soo engrossed in the story i went back and read the rest of the play. there are so many brilliant lines in this, what an incredible way of documenting the age of oil from the perspective of two women. i have so much to say but cant formulate my words just yet… probably one of, if not the best play ive read this year.

[Abi Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’d give this 3.5 stars. Really thought provoking concepts and an interesting perspective. I like that it’s not moralistic or blaming anyone. It’s just a critical exploration. I read this for my contemporary lit MA and it only lacks stars due to me being not much of a play reader. But that’s a me problem and I’d definitely recommend it to those who enjoy plays as it’s certainly one I’d rate above others I’ve been assigned to read. I imagine it’s a good watch!

[Nina Åkerhielm · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Read as part of a uni module.

I thought this play was really interesting and tackled the problem of describing the long-term effects of climate change in an innovative way. I thought the characters were really interesting, yet found myself frustrated at them quite frequently.

I'd be interested to see this play live, since the sets were so unique and the stage directions seemed impossible to follow at times.

[Milly Crickett · Rating 3 out of 5]

not to be that person but this book literally perpetuated the anti-capitalist views of the average university student. very well written drama though and the characters were easy to empathise with and also hate sometimes which i thought was good. i like the way it is split in to parts - made it easy to read. just at times felt jolty (maybe her writing style??)

[Dan Ralls · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engrossing saga of the Singers, Oil is fiercely ambitious and intelligent. The play addresses capitalist fossil fuel exploitation, colonialism and modernity in the backdrop of a family drama. It's easy to read in one sitting and might just be the best play I've ever read.

[Red · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mesmerizing play on the environment and ecocriticism! It really gets to you emotionally and shows that there is not only black or white, good or bad and right or wrong. There are shades and those have to be considered as well.

[Lili · Rating 5 out of 5]

BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR. Funny, witty, sharp, serious, feminist, anti-capitalist, clever, striking. There are so many layers to it that it could be analysed forever, and I wish to see the play one day.

[Sathana]

Haunting! Hickson's writing is smooth and gorgeously poetic. May's character is as tragic as she is infuriating, her ambition and desire for more so human, so real, so painful, especially when she realizes later on that it wasn't worth it at all.

[Jack Woolley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This play clearly had a lot to say about the implications of resource, power, and imperialism and all of these things reflections on gender and family. The play used the idea of the same people playing different characters to tell thematic messages which I found quite neat

[Alice G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

An astonishing tale for our present and our future. The era of oil will come to an end and so life as we know it. What will be left?

[Jonnie · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only thing worse than reading this play would be sitting through a production of it.