Pibroch

Pibroch is a one-act play performed by writer and spoken word artist John Bolland, exploring our Climate Emergency and the need for an urgent but just transition from the current extractive economic system and the parallels with the Piper Alpha disaster of 1988. In both situations people found themselves trapped on a burning (or sometimes sinking) platform with limited options and life-or-death choices to obey authority or take their futures into their own hands.

The performance explores the experience of oil & gas workers involved in numerous offshore industrial catastrophes (e.g. Piper Alpha, Alexander Keilland, Macondo) and examines the personal and social experiences of finding oneself on a ‘burning platform’ with a pressing need for change.

Developed from the author’s experiences working in the offshore oil and gas industry between 1980 and 2014 and subsequent involvement in Climate Activism through Extinction Rebellion between 2018 and 2020, the production is based on a poetry collection – Pibroch – which expands upon and develops the texts used in spoken performance.

The show is suitable for both theatres and community venues. The performance is followed by an after-show creative conversation allowing the audience to discuss the feelings and ideas evoked by the show and their general concerns and engagement with issues around the climate emergency. We would normally allow for a short comfort break of around 10 minutes between the main performance and the post-show discussion. Typically, the post-show conversation will last around 30 minutes.