Extraction: An experiment indeed

In Extraction, the show creators are exploring some powerful ideas about Canada and China, about tar sands and their environmental impact, about the individual lives of those who toil in resource extraction and those of us who are merely affected by this work. They query the audience repeatedly through the use of cell phone voting polls - if you agree, text Y to 604-xxx-xxxx and if you disagree, text N to 604-xxx-xxxx. This technological trick brings us into the show but does slow the pace - not much seems to happen as we wait for the result of each voting session. What we learn is occasionally surprising, but doesn't seem to have much impact on the direction of the show and lives of its characters. 

 

Extraction is a collective creative - Tim Carlson is credited as writer / producer and there is a further co-creation credit for Carlson, Amiel Gladstone (director), Jeremy Waller (associate producer and dramaturg) and all three performers. In the show, the performers state that "Theatre Conspiracy" flew to Beijing for research and drove to Fort MacMurray (though we don't learn who actually made those trips). We meet Jimmy Mitchell - a SK-born journalist and diplomat who lived in China for much of the past 20 years. We meet Jason Wilson - a former oil sands worker from Fort MacMurray. We meet Sunny Sun - a recent immigrant to Vancouver who comes from Beijing. There are no real connections explicitly drawn between these individuals and their experiences - as an audience member, you are seemingly invited to draw what conclusions you will. 

 

Adrian Muir's set and lighting design are utilitarian. He makes clever use of various compartments in the stage to store props used throughout the show at various points. The projection design by Conor Moore is the real star of the show visually - we get simultaneous translation of Mandarin to English and we see varied images of Beijing, Vancouver and Fort MacMurray which spark discussion and comment by the three characters onstage. Original music by Ron Samworth helps hold the piece together in the various silences. Samworth performs live on electric guitar, banjo and percussion with support from Randy Raine Reusch on zheng, flutes and more percussion.

 

What did I like, you ask? I appreciated the choice to use mobile technology, to explore multiple languages and to provide clarity through projected images. And in the real lives of these three individuals, I realized that there was certainly humour and stories that touched the audience. But I wanted more from Extraction as a piece of theatre. 

 

NOTE: Just for fun, three-quarters of the way through the show there was a false fire alarm. Everyone cleared the theatre under the direction of intrepid Front Of House Manager Jenn Graham. After a bit of time in the rain, we returned inside and the show continued. Kudos to the cast and crew for stopping and starting - extra points for Tim Carlson who added a joke about Theatre Conspiracy causing the fire alarm by trying to determine the winner of the 2014 Alcan Award!