b'T3 Journal - Student Writing in Drama, University of Exeter 2020-21 Sophia Trewickwriting and the approach of Hickson and Cracknell toilluminates aspects of the human story of oil extraction.Afromarxist. (2018) Angela Davis on Intersectional Feminism, [online the process of staging the text indicates an explorative,The rehearsal process foregrounded collaboration andaudio visual resource], Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GDjT3Fw_6w, [Accessed 5 December 2020].lateral way of creating as a collective. Sawalha describes aplayfulness. And yet, the all-female leadership behind sense of solidification over time as her roles developed inthe production was also an all-white leadership. TheAhmed, S. (2006) Queer Phenomenology : Orientations, Objects, Others, Duke their power throughout the creative process - she refersscript centres the narrative of a white protagonist and,University Press, North Carolina.to a grounded, empowering sense of strength in thein places, reinstates hegemonic theatrical traditions ofAhmed, S. (2014) The cultural politics of emotion, 2nd edition, Edinburgh characterisation (Almeida Theatre 2016c:1:15/2:47). placing marginal female voices at the periphery withoutUniversity Press.interrogating or working to actively resist the reductiveAlmeida Theatre. (2016a) The Right to Write | Almeida Questions, [online Part way through the conservation, Tampa poses atendencies of the white, theatrical gaze. Hickson begins toaudio visual resource], Available at: https://www.youtube.com/pointed question - On what basisshould you, whiteaddress the political responsibilities of the contemporarywatch?v=62EulXfcaqI, [Accessed 4 December 2020].people, continue to write about me? (Almeida Theatrewhite playwright - We cannot expect white structuredAlmeida Theatre. (2016b) Rehearsing for Oil - Nabil Elouahabi, [online 2016a: 30:12/47:35). He goes on to state that the storiesstories with white poetic language to represent.audio visual resource], Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fekO2no9-uw&t=4s, [Accessed 6 December 2020].we platform need to do more than reflect historical andand then she trails off and picks up a new thought present realities but also challenge the systems in place (Almeida Theatre 2016a: 35:08/47:35). It is this cautiousAlmeida Theatre. (2016c) Rehearsing for Oil - Lara Sawalha, [online in British society (Almeida Theatre 2016a: 31:53/47:35). Heconfrontation of whiteness as a cultural reality whichaudio visual resource], Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpIXYlL4UYQ, [Accessed 6 December].insists on active resistance to oppressive systems as key inshapes the way stories are told and who gets to tell them, acknowledging the harmful material consequences of thewhich responds to the insights of intersectional feminismBillington, M. (2016) Oil reviewscorchingly ambitious with plenty of renewable energy, The Guardian, [online resource], Available at: https://www.white gaze in the theatrical and literary canon. Engagingand the ethical questions at the heart of theatre-making.theguardian.com/stage/2016/oct/16/oil-review-almeida-theatre-london-with Hicksons script while allowing Tampas question toTo actively engage with the provocations of intersectionalanne-marie-duff-ella-hickson-empire-energy-parenthood, [Accessed 28 percolate involved reflection on my own whiteness and thefeminist theory and practice, white British playwrightsDecember 2020].privilege embedded in my perception of the text and itsand theatre makers must engage with the issues of culturalCho, S. Crenshaw, K.W. McCall, L. (2013) Toward a Field of Intersectionality staging. Grappling with these issues as a white, feministappropriation and accountability. To engage with whitenessStudies: Theory, Applications, and Praxis, Signs, 38(4), pp. 785810.drama student interested in theatre practice and theoryas a symbolic and material construct pulls privilege fromCollins, P. H. (2019) Intersectionality As Critical Social Theory, Duke prompted uncertainty and discomfort. Sara Ahmedsits comfortable invisibility, exposing the distorting effectsUniversity Press.meditations on emotion and her development of a criticalof the white gaze. Hickson, E. (2016) Oil (NHB Modern Plays), Nick Hern Books, London.theory which investigates power without adhering to the idea that rational thought is unemotional allowed mehooks, b. (2015) Feminism is for everybody: passionate politics, New York, Routledge.to approach feelings of discomfort with curiosity (Ahmed 2014: 170). Drawing on Audre Lordes explorations ofKlein, N. (2014) This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, Great anger, Sara Ahmed asserts that (a)nger is creative; itBritain, Penguin Books.works to create a language with which to respond toShafiee, K. (2018) Machineries of Oil: An Infrastructural History of BP in Iran. that which one is against (Ahmed 2014: 176).Similarly,Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press (Infrastructures Series.)acknowledging whiteness and interrogating discomfortShahrokni, N. (2020). Women in Place: The Politics of Gender Segregation in creates the opportunity for reflection and resistance toIran. Oakland, California, University of California Press.the reproduction of narratives in which the white gaze isWasiyo, K. (2015). Chandra Mohantys Under Western Eyes, [online deemed universal rather than unstable and reductive. audio visual resource], Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EDFA-bKq1o, [Accessed 29 December 2020].The phrase the right to write is as politically, ethically and morally charged in 2020 as it was in 2016. Vava Tampas question is full of possibilities - how do we challenge the systems in place? (Almeida Theatre 2016a: 31:53/47:35). To displace and dismantle white supremacy in the arts, those in positions of privilege must confront the fact that white bodies are somatic norms (Ahmed 2006:133) and consider the radical provocations of intersectional theory and praxis. Mohanty asks how do you keep questions of the profound gendered structure of society together with colonial legacies, capitalist scripts, racialised ideologies, nationalismand use that as a frame? (Wasiyo 2015: 5:54/1:17:20). Oil stages intersectional oppression and 12 13'