Theatre review: Part of the Picture

Edinburgh Festival Fringe: There is no cheviot or stag, but there's a lot of black, black oil in this rich evocation of the era of the Piper Alpha disaster by the new Scottish company Bletherbox.

Pleasance Dome (Venue 23)

****

Like John McGrath’s classic play, Tom Cooper’s script incorporates song, drama and documentary evidence to highlight the human toll of corporate greed.

Jumping forward from 1988, the playwright keeps things current by suggesting that, for all the post-disaster red tape, offshore health and safety standards are still subject to a level of corner-cutting that could be putting lives at risk.

To stage a North Sea explosion in which 167 people were killed would be a stretch for even the biggest theatrical budget, but the strength of Cooper’s production is that it largely sidesteps the disaster itself in order to focus on the life around the industry. Actors Ross McKinnon, Brian James O’Sullivan and Charlaye Blair – all as assured as singers as they are rooted in their characters – create a patchwork of impressionistic scenes drawn from first-hand interviews with offshore workers.

There’s the plumber-turned-systems maintenance operative, the trade unionist and the cautious company middle man. And at the centre of it all is the artist, played with a restrained determination by Blair, based on the real-life Sue Jane Taylor whose work is currently on show at the National Museum of Scotland. It is she who sees the ugly beauty of the rigs, the uncelebrated graft of the workers and the controlling hand of the Occidental Petroleum Corporation.

In other words, Cooper’s script shows the human face of the oil industry, making its argument without tub-thumping – just warmth and subtlety. Elegantly staged on Catherine McLauchlan’s simple but effective set, it marks the welcome arrival of a Scottish company that demands to be taken seriously.

Until 28 August. Today 12 noon.