Review: BARBER SHOP CHRONICLES, Bristol Old Vic

'It's your pub' says Winston, about the Three Kings Barber shop in London. The African barbers at the shop don't drink, so the barber shop has become the hub of the community. It's the place to watch the football, recount stories and tell jokes. Occasionally, there may even be a haircut.

Set over the course of a single day, writer Inua Ellams takes us on a journey across Africa and London stopping in at a variety of barber shops. Through the most organic kind of informal storytelling we touch on politics, race, mental health and masculinity.

If that all sounds a bit heavy, you needn't worry. In less accomplished hands it might be but Ellams has managed to create a script that has purpose and drive and no small amount of humour. It's centred purely in the characters - on the hopes and aspirations of the younger men and the experience and reflections of the older men.

It's a play with bags of authenticity, not surprising given the almost 60 hours of recordings Ellams made when researching the show in South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and Ghana. The depth of work is evident as the play transitions from place to place.

The transitions are helped by Rae Smith's beautifully chaotic set that's full of dodgy electrical boxes, ramshackle signs and mismatched furniture. A simple spinning globe highlights where in the world the action is taking place. There's something poetic about the stories happening underneath the world that keeps spinning.

From the lively pre-show (worth arriving early for) where audience members are cordially invited for a quick trim to the sounds of Stormzy to the quiet moments between barber and client - the ensemble are so uniformly superb, it's almost churlish to pick someone out but Anthony Ofoegbu as Emmanuel in the final scene is particularly powerful.

This is a play packed with joy, a window onto an often unseen culture. If theatre can sometimes seem pale and stale, this is the perfect antidote. It's a play as sharp as a cut throat razor.

Barber Shop Chronicles at Bristol Old Vic until 18 May

Photo credit: Mark Brenner

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