David Webber News

The National Theatre has announced 15 productions of new plays and fresh adaptations by leading writers.

Inua Ellams' hit play Barber Shop Chronicles today marks its 250th performance by announcing new autumn dates and a special programme of work Fades, Braids & Identity which will run alongside the season at the Roundhouse in London, opening in nine weeks. The overwhelmingly successful Barber Shop Chronicles returns to London for the first time since its premiere in 2017, playing two sold out runs at the National Theatre and acclaimed performances at Leeds Playhouse. It has subsequently toured across Australia, New Zealand, the United States of America and Canada.

Fuel have today announced the cast for the UK tour of Inua Ellams' critically acclaimed Barber Shop Chronicles which returns by popular demand.

BARBER SHOP CHRONICLES takes you on a cultural exchange trip across the continent of Africa, with a side journey to the UK, to meet and listen in on communities of men who go to the barber shop for much more than a shave and a haircut. Focusing on the relationships of men with fathers, children, friends, and lovers, playwright Inua Ellams provides an intimate view of a time-honored tradition. An ensemble of twelve populates the stage with 30 characters who give a lively, colorful performance.

American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University, under the leadership of Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director Diane Paulus and Executive Producer Diane Borger, announces the cast and creative team for Barber Shop Chronicles. The Fuel, National Theatre, and West Yorkshire Playhouse co-production begins preview performances on Wednesday, December 5, 2018; opens Friday, December 7; and closes Saturday, January 5, 2019 at the Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge, MA.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Georgetown University's Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics (The Lab) present Lab PerForum, a series of public discussions and workshops with artists from the Kennedy Center's WORLD STAGES series. The Lab PerForumcollaboration begins with discussions provoked by the Fuel, Royal National Theater, and West Yorkshire Playhouse co-production of Barber Shop Chronicles by Inua Ellams.

UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA) presents the West Coast premiere of Nigerian-born, UK-based poet, playwright and performer Inua Ellams' celebrated play Barber Shop Chronicles, a co-production of Fuel, National Theatre and West Yorkshire Playhouse, from Thursday, Oct. 18 to Saturday, Oct. 20 at 8 p.m. at the Freud Playhouse, UCLA.

Casting and venue information was announced today for the US tour of Inua Ellams' celebrated play Barber Shop Chronicles.

Following two sell-out runs at the National Theatre in 2017 which saw Barber Shop Chronicles receive widespread critical acclaim, four new cast members have been announced for 2018's international dates in New Zealand and Australia. For generations, African men have gathered in barber shops. Sometimes they have haircuts, sometimes they listen, more often than not they talk. This heart-warming, hilarious and insightful new play, set in Johannesburg, Harare, Kampala, Lagos, Accra and London, explores the role of barber shops as confession boxes, political platforms, preacher-pulpits and football pitches... places to go for unofficial advice, and to keep in touch with the world.

Fuel today announces its 2018 season features a programme of work commissioned to imagine what kind of world might lie ahead. Fuel invites artists to illuminate the past, and reflect on where we are today, to help us imagine a future, considering some of the biggest questions we are faced with today - from gender to migration - both at scale and in intimate settings.

Dates and casting have announced for new National Theatre season!

Following the sell out run at the National Theatre this summer extra dates have now been added for the return of Inua Ellams' play Barber Shop Chronicles to the Dorfman this autumn, now opening on 20 November and in repertoire until the 9 January. Tickets go on sale at midday on Thursday 31 August.