b'T3 Journal - Student Writing in Drama, University of Exeter 2020-21 Sophia TrewickAn intersectional feminist analysisBritish maid with a young daughter (Amy), and runsfor self-determination, financial security and freedom. his hand up her leg (Hickson 2016: 55). While this isChandra Mohanty outlines the tendency in white feminist of Ella Hicksons Oil happening, Amy is gorging herself on the Turkish delightsdiscourse and practice to construct the notion of the free, given to her by the officer. May is horrified and tries to getliberated Western feminist through colonising marginal Submitted for the module Performance and Interpretation her to spit them out before Samuel intervenes, grabs Amycommunities by reading and representing these groups hard and smacks her - until she spits them out (Hicksonas without agency (Wasiyo 2015: 8:14/1:17:20). Mohanty Essay 2016: 56). Samuel then wraps a cloth around Amys head indescribes the gaps in a hegemonic feminist theory Sophia Trewicka mock-imitation of Anas dress and tells her to dance likewhich approaches gender as non-racialised (Wasiyo 2015: Ana dances (Hickson 2016: 56). Later, Samuel squeezes6:31/1:17:20). White feminism has traditionally claimed Ana on the back of the neck; a gesture which, unseena kind of neutrality, a fight for all women which excludes by May, expresses total domination and powerlessnessnon-white gendered experiences through a politics of Conceived and written by Ella Hickson over six years, thesouthwest Iran (Shafiee 2018: 4). Hickson purposefully(Hickson 2016: 57). May and Amy run away leaving Ananegation and privilege. Oil documents the infrastructure first production of Oil was directed by Carrie Cracknellaligns the contextual historical event with the micro- stranded at the residence. The stage directions read Samuelof Britains social and economic relationship with Iran and and staged at the Almeida Theatre in London in 2016. Thecosmic politics of interpersonal relationships. Theapproaches Ana with malice (Hickson 2016: 59). Anas roleIraq through the prism of the white gazeplacing a white contemporary history play travels from a candle-lit Cornishcharacter of Ana is an Iranian housekeeper working at ais defined by the status of victimhood, Hickson offers nofemale protagonist at the heart of the play.farm in 1889 to a lavish colonial residence in Tehran inlavish colonial residence. Informed by Sara Ahmeds notionescape route at the end of the scene and the audience are 1908 to a semi-detached house in Hampstead in the 1970s,that the racial and historical dimensions are beneath theleft with the haunting image of the white, abusive officerAn intersectional feminist analysis of Oil necessitates into desert between Baghdad and Kirkuk in 2021 beforesurface of the body described by phenomenology, I willbearing down on her with malice (Hickson 2016: 59).a consideration of the role and responsibilities of the landing in a dark, speculative Cornwall in 2051. Hicksonsfocus particularly on the political implications of theThe gestural language of the scene frames working-classwhite theatre writer, maker, and critic in relation to the exploration of Britains relationship with the Middle Eastphenomenological when staging abusive and exploitativewomens bodies as intensely vulnerable. The objectifying,urgent realities of cultural appropriation and reductive during the age of mass petroleum extraction is anchoredinteractions (Ahmed 2006: 110). Despite the geographicalcolonizing gaze of Samuel permeates the action - herepresentations of the other on the contemporary, by an intimate portrayal of a mother-daughter relationshiplocation initially displacing Western centrality in the play,commands, grabs, taunts and smacks. Where May andLondon stage.which traverses centuries. Hickson grounds the action in a colonial residence in theAmy can escape further abuse, Ana is granted no such Persian desert and subsequently establishes the aestheticsrelief - her narrative is bleakly mapped, the scene trapsInstigated by a panel discussion hosted by the Almeida Cho, Crenshaw and McCall define intersectionality as aof white, colonial excess as dominant (Hickson 2016:her body and encloses her storyline. Shahrokni describesin 2016 entitled The Right to Write, I will expand my nodal point or gathering place for investigating the35). Ana enters the space part way through the scene towhite Western representations of Iran as Janus-faced -investigation of the play beyond the bounds of the dramatic intersections of various social inequalities (2013: 788).give May her uniform. Her peripheral placement in theidentifying a suspicious fixation in which womens bodiestext and into the systems, material conditions and ethical My understanding of the term intersectional feminismnarrative mirrors Hicksons peripheral staging of Iranianare placed under the scrutiny of Western observersdiscussions which framed and informed its development is informed by bell hooks definition of feminism ascivilians in a more general sense. Hickson describes the(Shahrokni 2020: 2). To an extent, Hicksons textualand interpretation in practice. The discussion panel was a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation andworkers, exhausted and hollow eyed in her stage directionsrepresentation of Ana conforms to this trend - to representchaired by the white theatre critic Matt Trueman and oppression (hooks 2015:1), Angela Davis affirmations- literally placing the oil wells of Iran on the horizona narrative through the description of pain risks separatingthe guests were Xnrn Xue (Chinese-British journalist of a feminism that recognises the interconnections (Hickson 2016: 35). Naomi Klein describes imperialismthe woundfrom the complex histories of being hurtand author), Ella Hickson (white British playwright of between intimate and institutional violence (Afromarxistas disposable peripheries being harnessed to feed aor injured, histories which cannot be gathered under aOil), Carrie Cracknell (white British director of Oil) and 2018: 1:55/6:07) and Patricia Hill Collins description ofglittering centre (Klein 2014: 169). Oil reproduces thissingular concept such as patriarchy (Ahmed 2014: 173). Vava Tampa (Congolese activist, poet, and writer). At the intersectionality as a knowledge project of resistancedynamic through the centrality of the Western settlement,beginning of the talk Hickson openly describes struggling (Collins 2019: 10). Crucially, an intersectional feminista glittering centre in which all is sumptuous and excitingDirector Carrie Cracknell locates Oils radicalism in thewith both the practical andethical questions around analysis highlights the extent to which a play resists the(Hickson 2016: 35). centrality of two female protagonists and their journey aswriting characters that were from cultures that (she) didnt perpetuation and re-enactment of intersecting structuralone which relates to various men without being dictatedshare cultural experience with (Almeida Theatre 2016a: oppressions. I will investigate Ella Hicksons textualUnder the reductive lens of the white, Western gaze, theand defined by these relationships (Almeida Theatre 2016a3:49/47:35). Both Hickson and Cracknell acknowledge the representation of the character Ana before considering theMiddle East is frequently homogenised in popularised14:39/47:35). Michael Billingtons review of Oil identifiesplay as an attempt; a movement towards conscious, global political and ethical implications of staging a play whichrepresentation. Mainstream media coverage of Muslimthe play as a rebuttal of the old idea that women dramatistsstorytelling (Almeida Theatre 2016a: 14:18/47:35).traverses cultural borders and time frames. My analysiswomen in Middle Eastern countries tends to hinge on thetend to shun the epic form and remarks on the nuanceA series of short videos released by the Almeida in tandem gives rise to questions of ethics, positionality, and culturalbody as a site for the enactment of oppression/resistanceand compelling psychology of May, the white protagonistwith the first staging of Oil give insight into the rehearsal appropriation as I consider the inherently political nature(Shahrokni 2020: 2). Ana is subjected to aggressive(Billington 2016: n.p). Without acknowledging race, cultureprocess. Actor Nabil Elouahabi, who plays Mr Farouk, of storytelling through the prism of intersectional feministbehaviour from both May and Samuel, a white colonialand imperialism - central to the plays subject matter -describes a collaborative space; the whole company. theory and praxis. officer who flirts with May and becomes microcosmicallythe anglocentricity of Oil is hidden behind an emphasispartakes in the process with open-ness and creativity reflective of the strategic paternalism employed by Britishon the plays radical portrayal of women. Arguably,(Almeida Theatre 2016b: 0:30/5:14). Lara Sawalha, who The second part of Oil is set in Tehran in 1908 - a yearcolonial corporations in Iran (Shafiee 2018: 136). A seriesAnas representation is not radical - it reflects historicmulti-roles to play three characters (including that of Ana) marking the formation of the Anglo-Persian Oil Companyof violations of womens bodies occur in the concludingand contemporary patterns of intersectional oppressiondescribes a beautiful experience of just playing (Almeida and a subsequent escalation of petroleum extraction inmoments of the second act - Samuel grab(s) May, a whiteas the white woman takes centre stage in her battleTheatre 2016c: 0:40/2:47). The mutability of the new 10 11'