When a global oil crisis overshadows their Mexican honeymoon, two newlyweds discover how far they’ll go to defend their way of life. Absurdly inventive comic theatre from Total Theatre Award nominees Shams. ‘A playful, poetic gem.’ Times www.shamstheatre.org.uk
www.shamstheatre.org.uk
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fringereport.com - 13th August 2008
"A very entertaining and thought provoking piece of theatre - from Fringereview"
This devised play by the award winning actor led company Shams has all the good and some of the bad elements of devised theatre. It opens on a faintly nauseating young British couple descending on a remote petrol station somewhere in a South American desert. They are full of self congratulatory confidence and an irritating, self conscious lust for life; declaring the phlegmatic and almost non-English speaking petrol attendant to be “so real…like, totally authentic”. When it becomes apparent that there is no petrol (at least, none for sale), they shrug it off as a minor inconvenience and proceed to insist upon a tequila party with the hapless little local. This opening third of the play is out and out hilarious, as it dissects with a ruthless truth and a keen ear the foul condescension and deluded “insights” of the contemporary London based middle classes, and their relentless, world plundering lust for “authenticity” and the need to get “off the beaten track”.
Then, things take a darker turn. Reports come over the radio and the attendant’s small television of a rapidly developing and global oil based crisis; stock markets crash, civil unrest blossoms, and it becomes clear the world is very quickly going to hell in a hand basket. Slowly, the English couple’s cocksure master servant relationship with the pump attendant starts to turn, as he is the only holder of life’s essentials within seventy miles, and until (or if) the next petrol shipment arrives, they are at his mercy. It becomes clear how pathetically physically and psychologically unprepared they are for this shift in power and its ramifications.
As a metaphor for the West and its relationship with the rest of the world over the next twenty years, this is a neat device, and good characterisation and witty writing abound. It is at times spoiled by an unevenness of tone; comedic moments pop up in the most serious of sections and vice versa; a tricky thing to do and they don’t always work. The piece is ambitious in its scope and the technical side of its staging; sometimes both work spectacularly, sometimes they fall short. In all though, a very entertaining and thought provoking piece of theatre.
Fringereview.co.uk
Scotsman - 13th August 2008
"Through its duration, Black Stuff is gripping"
TOPICALITY isn't the only thing this low-key thriller has going for it, although trying to cram in too many references to imminent environmental collapse almost scuppers things. For the bulk of it it's an agreeably brooding tale of a newlywed, middle-class English couple stranded without petrol at a dry gas station in the remote Mexican desert. Through the duration of this plotline, Black Stuff is gripping.
Laura Lloyd and the show's director Jonathan Young are well-matched to the parts of honeymooners Sophie and Justin, who are young, fresh-faced and well-bred. They're also, a bit stereotypically, Kaiser Chiefs-listening, cotton wool-wrapped know-nothing goons. When they argue, it's over things like Sophie attending a writer's retreat in Shropshire.
The third point of the tense triangle at the heart of the play really makes it, however. Toni Arteaga is Pasquale, a pump attendant who lives alone in a shack and spends his days watching television from a beat-up old car seat. Whether or not he's villain or antihero fuels the sense of tension right up until the end, although the arrival of news that violent fuel riots are tearing urban areas apart sees the show veer off into a rather unconvincing biblical finale.
one4review.com - 4th August 2008
"This play could not be more topical... a reminder of how fragile our way of life is"
Black Stuff is a well written comedy with a serious message. It begins in a light hearted way when honeymoon couple Justin (Jonathan Young who is also the Director) and Sophie (Laura Lloyd) run out of petrol on their journey across the Mexican desert to their resort on the coast. Fortunately, or so it seems, they manage to limp into a remote service station, manned by the apparently friendly and good natured middle aged Pascual (Tony Arteaga).
What should be relief at their good luck begins a succession of disasters. Pascual informs the couple that he is awaiting a fresh supply of petrol. Undaunted at having to stay overnight, they live it up in true British style, with the help of copious quantities of Pascual's tequila.
Their plight nosedives the next morning when Sophie hears by chance a news broadcast of a petrol crisis and stock markets in turmoil – this play could not be more instantly topical! Optimism gives way to panic as the reality of their trapped situation hits home. The play takes on a darker tone and the need to survive replaces moral behaviour. The ending is dramatic and unexpected.
Jonathan Young and Laura Lloyd play their parts with energy and gusto. This is balanced by Tony Arteaga's low key interpretation of his character thus providing a contrast to the exuberance of the young couple.
The theme of impending energy doom is not new but in the account of Justin and Sophie's predicament there is an uncomfortable reminder of how fragile our way of life is.
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