In Black Stuff Shams Theatre Company have created a piece of work about the global oil and financial crisis that is human, hilarious and above all touching. It is a dark fairytale which turns the ordinary into the extraordinary through a seamless combination of music, story and performance. A cautionary tale which asks what price a full tank and turns the answer on its head.
Justin and Sophie are a giddily newly wed couple who find themselves stranded at an isolated petrol pump with only Pasqual, the Mexican petrol attendant, for company. Tequila and a healthy dose of middle class its an experience! syndrome entices them to stay the night and it is only in the harsh light of day that they realise they are abandoned. The world is in the middle of a global oil crisis and the delivery of petrol that they are waiting for is never going to arrive. In this desperate situation Justin and Sophies morals are pushed to the limit and their true selves revealed.
Shams Theatre Company are well versed in the working practices of French physical theatre teacher Jacques Lecoq and although Pasqual is the most directly linked to Lecoqs clowning practices the whole production is infused with the joy in playing and constant awareness of one another which also speaks of his work.
Pasquals entrance at the beginning through the same door as the audience lends him an alien feel throughout the drama. Toni Arteagas performance brings an underlying feeling of worry to the production; he is softly spoken, friendly but always slightly menacing, what does he want when he looks at Sophie in that way or when he slowly takes Justins clothes? Yet in the vivid, funny and moving moments of silent clowning he is as innocent as a child. It is a touching indictment of the superfluous nature of modern technology that when Justin patronisingly gives Pasqual his electronic car beeper which is instead of a key so he can sleep in their car, Pasqual instead begins to play with it and creates a dance beat from the locking and unlocking of the car door. He dances silently as the beat is infused with Mexican rhythms and notes and once more in this vivid production the mundane is transformed into the magical.
Jonathan Young (who also directed) and Laura Lloyds performances as Justin and Sophie were so detailed that they transcended into the effortless. Every giggle and look, or hurt vocal whine was perfectly constructed to create people that were natural but shone iridescently into life.
Never preachy, Shams Theatre Company comment on the world through the three individual human perspectives studiously avoiding the teachers viewpoint. Upon seeing the rusty shack that covers a loan petrol pump, and the racing car seat which sits in front of a rickety TV that Pasqual powers through a barrel of oil, Sophie surveys his home and squeals look at this place its so retro! perfectly underlining the subtly snobbery which the West has to the rest of the world. When Justin in a moment of desperation shouts at Pasqual that thats why you people are here in the dust and dirt... youre lazy! this snobbery raises its head and roars.
It is clear that every aspect of Black Stuff has been focused on in great detail, from the practical but evocative setting, to the soundscape created to fully realise the world just off of the playing space. This combined with the detailed and flawless performances of the cast leaves for a fantastically layered and rich production. Shams Theatre Company have taken oil and have revealed a rainbow sheen on top of it, that shimmers and makes you see the world differently. It is definitely one to catch.
