2011
A live literature production set in County Cork in the early 1970s. written and performed by Martina Evans, directed by Mark Hewitt for LLL Productions.
An extract performed for the first time as a work in progress on 5 May 2011 as part of Eastbourne Festival.
'The distinction between children and adults, while probably useful for some purposes, is at bottom a specious one, I feel. There are only individual egos, crazy for love.' - Donald Barthelme
Maybe the only difference between adults and children is that adults have all the power. That’s what it feels like that to Imelda, thirteen year old narrator of Petrol and the youngest of Justin McConnell’s three daughters. Justin the owner of the village bar, shop and petrol pumps, has buried two wives. Now he wants to take a third wife, Clodagh, who is almost the same age as his eldest daughters, Bertha and Agnes. Unable to get Bertha and Agnes’s approval he turns his attention to Imelda, he tells her that she is the one to welcome Clodagh into the family. Imelda is enjoying favoritism for the first time in her life; the only problem is, she is also enjoying the favors of Danny Boy, a nineteen year-old local farmer. Apart from his personal contempt for Danny Boy, Justin can’t approve of this relationship because Danny Boy is too old for Imelda. Besides Agnes is his true favourite and Imelda knows that deep down, she just can’t sustain her new position.
The hypocrisy and control freakery almost drive Imelda out of her mind. Can she take responsibility that adults won’t take or will she literally set a fire that will haunt her for the rest of her life?