Local Hero at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester: REVIEW - why saving the planet is written in the stars

Forty years ago, a comedy-drama film challenged an oil hungry planet to consider the brutal impact of their obsession on the beauty and sanctity of the planet. In Bill Forsyth’s masterpiece, the residents of a small Scottish coastal community are offered a life-changing fortune to sell up their homes to make way for a giant refinery.

They all snatch at the opportunity offered by a Texan oil conglomerate – well nearly all. One old beach comber who refuses to yield and concede a single grain of sand ultimately stands his shaky ground.

Forsyth’s visionary and highly sentimental production was years ahead of its time, so how appropriate that Chichester Festival Theatre has unveiled this revival – and coincidentally in the same week that Rolls-Royce Motor Cars just down the road revealed its new all-electric car which completely dispenses with petrol and the combustion engine.

As Daniel Evans’ tenure as artistic director begins to draw to a close, this musical will stand as a glorious penultimate chapter in his glittering contribution. This production, is funny, it is fun, and it is irresistibly foot-tapping too. The cast is warm and engaging; the set which appears to have been inspired by the inside of an oil drum brings all the versatility that the story-line demands.

Ultimately, though, the big question that permeates Local Hero is what price our environment, our community, and our planet.

As the play reaches its conclusion, it is the intervention of Happer (Jay Villiers) who owns the oil company that finally brings the key dilemma into sharp contrast. His greatest ambition is not to pump more oil but to secure immortality through a comet named after him. The resolution of the play is literally written in the stars.

A marvellous cast led by Gabriel Ebert (Mac) achieves for praise what Happer fails to do for oil – it fairly gushes. This play about black gold really is a treasure.