Leeds Playhouse – until 23 November 2019
Reviewed By Dawn Smallwood
4****
Barber Shop Chronicles makes a return visit to the Leeds Playhouse after successful runs at the National Theatre and worldwide since its debut. Inua Ellmam’s play is a co-production between Fuel, National Theatre and Leeds Playhouse.
The audience is firstly invited to join the cast for a pre-warm up party on stage with opportunities for a dance or a “haircut”! Under the direction of Bijan Sheibani and Rae Smith’s creative staging, the play is set in barber shops in London and Africa and packed with conversations taking place over one day.
Traditionally African men access barber shops as community and social platforms as well as getting their hair needs done. They would often congregate, share news and have animated and heated discussions about the world. They would pessimistically and optimistically put the worlds to rights whether it is politics, family loyalties or football. This one act performance captures a lot of conversations and explores such relationships including families, the community, and also individual and collective aspirations and plans for the future.
Barber Shop Chronicles is cleverly staged with smooth transitions and accompanied with African dance and song interludes which are arranged by Michael Henry’s music and Aline David’s choreographic movements. There are featured barber shops’ scenes in Peckham (known as “Little Nigeria”), Lagos, Johannesburg, Harare, Kampala and Accra. With Jack Knowles’ innovative lighting each barber shop is lighted to indicate where in the world the conversations are taking place. The men maybe countries apart physically but united in banter and barber on what matters to them including manhood, dreams and hopes for the future. This is an opportunity to explore what topics matter to them and also to men in general.
Members of the cast, playing multiple roles, have put on an excellent, heartfelt, funny and insightful performance and successfully engage with the audience in this content packed play. Topics and series of events that are captured in the conversations are relevantly universal and the audience are invited to get an insight into a unique wider community of how Africans meet and talk. It must be said that meetings in hairdressing establishments are common among many communities worldwide, men and women. Barber Shop Chronicles is not exclusive but inclusive and how having such settings is socially and societically very important to one and all.