Petróleo by Piel de Lava says goodbye at the Metropolitan.

Four farewell shows on Corrientes

Petróleo, the play by the theatre collective Piel de Lava, says goodbye to Buenos Aires with four shows at the Teatro Metropolitan: on November 17, 18, 24 and 25, always at 8 pm. The production returns to the city's stages after a tour of Spain during October.

On that tour it stopped in Madrid, Barcelona and Girona. In the Spanish capital it was staged at the Centro de Cultura Contemporánea Conde Duque, in Barcelona it played at La Villarroel and in Girona it appeared at the Teatre de Salt.

The writing and the acting are by Laura Paredes, Pilar Gamboa, Valeria Correa and Elisa Carricajo, while Laura Fernández is the co-director. According to Infobae, the piece had already won over local audiences in earlier seasons, and this run will be the last in the city.

A story set in a Patagonian oil field

The plot takes place at an oil camp in Patagonia. Four men share a trailer while, a few metres away, they pull crude from a well that yields little now. On the surface, free time fills up with dust, dark local legends and physical challenges; underground, the rock is broken up in search of the last drop.

On that premise, the four actresses play male characters. With humour and plenty of acting power, the play explores how gender stereotypes are built and taken apart, and that outlook was one of the reasons it became a widely discussed theatre phenomenon in Argentina.

Each show runs 100 minutes. The creative team adds Rodrigo González Garillo on set design, Gabriela A. Fernández on costumes, Zypce on music and sound design, Matías Sendón on lighting and Ianina Maglia as executive producer.

More than two decades of collective work

Piel de Lava was formed in 2003 and has worked without interruption ever since, using its own method that mixes acting, group playwriting and directing. Petróleo is its fifth creation within a repertoire of six plays; the others are Parlamento, Museo, Tren, Neblina and Colores verdaderos.

It premiered in 2018 as part of the artistic residency offered by the Complejo Teatral de Buenos Aires. It then played the Sala Casacuberta, in the Teatro San Martín, and also the Metropolitan itself, where it now closes its local run again.

Between 2022 and 2023 it made its first tour of Europe. It played the FIT festival in Cádiz, Otoño de Madrid and Temporada Alta in Girona. In Badajoz it performed at the López Ayala, in Seville at the Lope de Vega, and it also appeared at the Swiss festival Theater Spektakel in Zurich.

Awards and a stint in film

In 2019 the play won two ACE Awards: one for best national author, for Piel de Lava, and another for best lead actress, for Pilar Gamboa. In 2021 the collective added a special mention from the Konex Awards, which honoured the artists of the decade.

The group also appeared on the big screen. It was part of La Flor, by Mariano Llinás. At BAFICI, in the international section, the film won as best film and its actresses were honoured. The film later travelled to Locarno, Toronto, the London Film Festival, Biarritz and Bilbao.

If you go

The venue is the Teatro Metropolitan, at Avenida Corrientes 1343, in the City of Buenos Aires. The shows are on November 17, 18, 24 and 25, at 8 pm, and each one lasts 100 minutes. Tickets start at $41,000 pesos and are sold through Plateanet or at the theatre box office. There are only four dates, the last ones the play has scheduled in Buenos Aires for now.