Oikos is lost on the eco trail

The first of two plays being staged there before the venue is dismantled in mid-October is Oikos, a new piece by Simon Wu. Developed at the National Theatre Studio, it’s a study of rancid domesticity that’s also an apocalyptic vision of environmental meltdown.

As the Thames bursts its banks and London is engulfed, we zero in on the struggles of City slicker Salil, his wife Assana and their daughter Lily. Salil is haunted by images of his Indian childhood, and as his luxurious existence unravels and the elements threaten to overwhelm him and his family, he has to revisit his past to find a path to redemption.

It’s the climate-change theme that makes Oikos at least notionally interesting. One character speaks pregnantly of "the contingency plan", and Wu’s themes are close to those of Steve Waters’s superb dramatic diptych of that name. But where Waters treated the threat of impending
environmental catastrophe with humanity and a gripping flair, Wu’s writing manages the unlikely feat of being both clichéd and cryptic.

The action is clunky: Topher Campbell’s direction lacks precision, and the use of filmed segments adds little. Neil d’Souza grapples earnestly with the unforgiving role of Salil, and there’s a hyperactive turn from Amy Dawson as his daughter.

Yet at no point does the important subject matter obscure the fact that Oikos is a pretentious, derivative and theatrically undernourished play that fails to exploit the Jellyfish’s handsome potential.
Until September 18. Information: http://www.oikosproject.com

Oikos
The Jellyfish Theatre
Union Street, SE1 1LB