Shell: The Story of Oil (2.0) - An audience-chosen Tale of Oil, Wales & What Comes Next
Shell: The Story of Oil (2.0) returns to Green Man with new material shaped by Wales and the Brecon Beacons themselves. Built live with the audience, the show tells the history of Shell as the story of oil, capitalism and climate breakdown – this year with chapters on how global fossil impacts land in Welsh landscapes.
From fuel terminals and petro-infrastructure centred on Milford Haven to the mountains we are standing in, Wales was woven into Shell’s supply chain for decades. Oil and gas moved through Welsh ports to power Britain, while the climate impacts of that system now return here.
Using audience-drawn postcards – like a “choose your own adventure” – artist-turned-lawyer J Spooner tells an epic story crossing centuries and continents, bringing junk shops, oil fields and courtrooms to vivid life. Blending theatre, storytelling and law, the show makes urgent, complex issues vivid and accessible.For 25 years, J Spooner made award-winning work as a founding artist with Unlimited Theatre, collaborating with scientists and researchers on stories of quantum physics, space exploration and human enhancement, touring extensively in the UK and internationally. In 2023, J had the most boring midlife crisis ever: literally running away from the circus to retrain as a human rights lawyer. Now a newly graduated Master of Laws (top of their class), J combines storytelling with law to explore the climate crisis and the systems – and companies – that shaped it.