OUT DAMNED LOGO ... Shakespearean flashmob hits British Museum

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BP OR NOT BP 

Round about the globe we go;
Into the ocean oil we throw.
Tar, that lurks beneath the ground,
Uproots and kills without a sound.
Fish lie dead, nothing survives
While back in London our brand thrives

Double, double: oil is trouble,
Tar sands burn, as greenwash bubbles.

Mountains of our filthy cash
In bank accounts: an awesome stash;
Greenhouse gas, a Gulf in grief,
We’re always lurking there, beneath.
Dodgy dealings give us pounds
Towards the champagne/caviar rounds.

200 members of the Reclaim Shakespeare Company took over the British Museum's Great Court and performed a series of anti-BP plays yesterday. The flashmob of 'actor-vists' known as the performed a re-interpretation of Shakespeare's Macbeth in the British Museum's Great Court. The performance -- which included 200 people chanting "double, double, oil is trouble; tar sands burn as greenwash bubbles" - was followed by three more Shakespeare-inspired playlets. The flashmob provoked a major police and security presence inside the museum. The BP-sponsored "Shakespeare: Staging The World" exhibition was closed and the museum's giant iron gates were bolted shut for the duration. This comes in the same week as BP accepted criminal responsibility, including manslaughter, for the Deepwater Horizon drilling disaster. It has been hit with a fine of $4.5 billion, making it the biggest convicted corporate criminal in US history.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/nov/15/bp-largest-penalty-history-gulf-oil-spill

 

THE SILENT VOICE

This was the ninth and final pop-up performance this season by the Reclaim Shakespeare Company, a group who have come together in opposition to BP's sponsorship of the World Shakespeare Festival. They have been particularly critical of BP's branding of several plays by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), and the British Museum's 'Shakespeare: Staging the World' exhibition.

During their season of theatrical protests, the Reclaim Shakespeare Company have invaded the stage three times at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, and once each at the Roundhouse, Noel Coward Theatre and Riverside Studios in London. They have also performed uninvited twice before at BP-branded Shakespeare events at the British Museum. Performances have attracted support and applause from audiences, staff and even RSC performers. 

Executive witch, by Kristian Buus

The protests at the RSC appear to have been successful. Following these interventions, the RSC last week stated that: "We have no further sponsorship [with BP] confirmed". Next year's programme of plays has been announced, and none are sponsored by BP.

This season finale, entitled 'Out, damned logo!', was the first to be openly advertised. The actor-vists are concerned by the British Museum's decision to accept sponsorship from BP in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon drilling disaster, the company's decision to start extracting highly polluting and destructive tar sands oil in Canada, its enormous contribution towards climate change, and its recently-announced partnership with Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft in order to exploit the hazardous and vulnerable Arctic. Pressure on cultural institutions to consider the ethics of their sponsorship deals is currently high following the sudden ending of the National Gallery's long-running sponsorship deal with an arms company last month.


This flashmob was organised by the Reclaim Shakespeare Company, UK Tar Sands Network, Liberate Tate, Art Not Oil, Rising Tide UK and London Rising Tide