Pandemic reports oblige, Oil ends up on stage at a particularly opportune moment, when the paradoxes of Canadian society, dependent on black gold, appear. And the approach of its well-meaning protagonist seems to echo that of this environmentalist who has bet on power: hoping to change things from within the system…
“Documented Fiction” from a file of the New York Timesthe play by François Archambault describes a missed opportunity: that of fighting against global warming, the harmful effects of which we already knew, by initiating the ecological transition in the 1980s. Oil follows the disenchantment and fall of Jarvis, from 1979, when the scientist was hired by an oil company to explore the impacts of hydrocarbons, until 40 years later, after his suicide which would have caused a forest fire in California. The character is camped by a Simon Lacroix as convincing in naive idealism as in drift.
It is in the confrontation of ideas between the characters, more than in their drama—rather sketched—that the play captures the interest
But this first text by Archambault created for a large stage, a vast narrative scattered between several roles and two eras (and the scenes set in 2018, with the descendants of Jarvis, are not the most engaging), is first and foremost a play of debates. It is in the confrontation of ideas between the characters, more than in their – rather sketchy – drama that the play captures the interest. A subject whose stakes are clearly exposed by the playwright. If we have already known the author of The leisure society even more scathing, the playwright supports the absurd side of certain discussions and injects humor into this text loaded with a necessary informative content.
The play culminates in the key scene of the government commission, where the urgency of the militant scientists collides with the extreme caution and immobility of the decision-makers. A painting that is both intense, discouraging and entertaining, which could unfortunately happen today. As the company’s representative (sharp Elkahna Talbi) cynically concludes: governments don’t move because people don’t want to change their way of life. We, what.
The director Édith Patenaude once again proves her gift for animating a set, organizing the rhythmic circulation of these shows which multiply the places and characters, with a cast that changes (we note, among others, the irresistible Olivia Palacci ).
The striking scenography by Claire Renaud seems to illustrate the climatic extremes that await us: it is dominated by a circle which, under the lights, becomes a ball of fire, while on the ground, the performers literally walk through the water. The discomfort of a humanity that flounders in its environmental problem. A danger that we can no longer ignore since we have both feet in it.
But, of course, it’s a big play denouncing global warming 40 years ago that we really needed…