The socio-political dynamics centred around fuel extraction in the global south, e.g. in Africa, are complex, multifaceted and mind-boggling to say the least. But what do six young women from Berlin have anything to do with it all? These Berliners - Marie, Signe, Antonia, Laura, Sophie and Janja - were aboard on a 4 day-long process of aesthetic exploration of this very question with theater°system's Utz Ebertz and Mir Mubashir. Inspired by David Diamond's Theatre for Living (TfL), Utz and Mir facilitated the process culminating in a 10-minute play for forum theatre. And one fine evening (10th October 2013) during the Alternative Resources Week in Berlin, these six women took the stage to perform a fictional representation of their stories of "Oil Power Poverty - what do I care?", where we saw lifestyles, consumption, dilemmas lead to conflicts in friendship. The spectators, or rather spectactors were invited to the stage to intervene into the play by replacing characters they can identify with and trying out their ideas of transforming the conflicts. A wide range of experimentations from the spectactors ensued, which were fun, serious and eye-opening at the same time.
Following is a video (in German) filmed by the wonderful crew at Draufsicht, containing some clips of the performance and interventions (starts around 09:14 until end).
The performance was a project by Working Group Chad as part of its programme '10 years of first oil in Chad'.
Following is a video (in German) filmed by the wonderful crew at Draufsicht, containing some clips of the performance and interventions (starts around 09:14 until end).
The performance was a project by Working Group Chad as part of its programme '10 years of first oil in Chad'.
