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Barber Shop Chronicles Inua Ellams

Barber Shop Chronicles By Inua Ellams

Barber Shop Chronicles by Inua Ellams


$68.99
Condition - Very Good
Only 1 left

Summary

Barber Shop Chronicles is a generously funny, heart-warming and insightful new play set in five African cities, Johannesburg, Harare, Kampala, Lagos, Accra, and in London

Barber Shop Chronicles Summary

Barber Shop Chronicles by Inua Ellams

Barber Shop Chronicles is a generously funny, heart-warming and insightful new play set in five African cities, Johannesburg, Harare, Kampala, Lagos, Accra, and in London.


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Inspired in part by the story of a Leeds barber, the play invites the audience into a unique environment where the banter may be barbed, but the truth always telling. The barbers of these tales are sages, role models and father figures who keep the men together and the stories alive.

Barber Shop Chronicles Reviews

'It's a play crammed with questions, discussing African attitudes to parental discipline in one scene, and the role Nigerian Pidgin plays in cultural identity in the next. Idea follows idea: Christianity as a business fattening the wallets of pastors; the western media's depiction of Lagos; the way that words can be used to debase and destroy. Again and again the plays returns to the theme of black masculinity and the different shapes it can take... The tone of the play shifts fluidly from comedy to poignancy to rage... This is all handled with skill and a huge amount of warmth. Barber Shop Chronicles is a pleasure to experience. The level of joy in the room is high... Rich, exhilarating theatre that opens a window into a world of men.'

* The Stage *

'Introducing us to 30 individual characters in barber shops the world over, Ellams reminds us of the sheer cultural diversity wrapped up in blackness... This is our pub, insists one regular. Simply by putting such a culturally exclusive space on a public stage, Ellams is doing something potent - opening up a closed space, airing its conversations on a wider scale and inviting others in... this is, in more ways than one, a play about roots. London's black community is made up of different diaspora - each with its own heritage, parentage, politics and perspective... Fathers recur, as do public role models - rappers and politicians - and the idea of inherited values, identities and histories comes to the fore. Ellams ties unresolved issues and historic injustices to the prevalence of mental health issues in black men, suggesting that the political affects the personal.

* Matt Trueman, What's On Stage *

'Inua Ellams has always explored ideas of masculinity and migration through his plays and slam poetry performances. Here, he pushes those themes onto a global stage in this new piece, which braids together various conversations in six different barbershops, from London to Lagos to Johannesburg, across the course of a single day... Ellams has an instinctive feel for the polyphonous rhythms of dialogue, and the way his characters use language is both a texture and a theme of this play, which threads in debates on Nigerian Pidgin and the use of the N word with casual ease. He skilfully maintains control of his sprawling cast... This is a show full of sadness and great joy.

* Telegraph *

'It's always bracing to watch the National open its arms, doors and repertoire to new work, new audiences, new experiences. There's certainly not been anything like this all-male, all-black piece from poet/playwright Inua Ellams, which bounces with brio as it whisks us around a series of African barber shops in six countries on two continents over the space of a single day... it becomes gradually clear that these resolutely female-free spaces are also part confessional, part psychiatrist's chair for both the staff and customers. Hefty topics ripple and re-echo over the thousands of miles that separate the establishments: how to be a father, how to be a son, how to be a man. A joke about a fly in a pint also travels effortlessly.

* Evening Standard *

Simply by putting such a culturally exclusive space on a public stage, Ellams is doing something potent opening up a closed space, airing its conversations on a wider scale and inviting others in... this is, in more ways than one, a play about roots....... Ellams ties unresolved issues and historic injustices to the prevalence of mental health issues in black men, suggesting that the political affects the personal.'

* Matt Trueman, What's On Stage *

About Inua Ellams

Born in Nigeria, Inua Ellams is a cross-art-form practitioner, a poet, playwright, performer, graphic artist, designer and founder of the Midnight Run - a nocturnal urban excursion. He is a Complete Works poet alumni and a designer at White Space Creative Agency. Inua Ellams' previous plays at the National include The 14th Tale (Fringe First award) and Black T-Shirt Collection.
Other plays include The Riddler at Theatre503; Knight Watch at Greenwich + Docklands Festival; Mostly Like Blue for Islington Community Theatre; Cape at the Unicorn; The Long Song Goodbye at Battersea Arts Centre; Fastcuts and Snapshot at West Yorkshire Playhouse; Marsh Orchids & Concrete for China Plate; Reset Everything and An Evening with an Immigrant at the Soho; and Turned at Trafalgar Studios. Radio plays include The Ballad of Abdul Ha z and Wild Blood.
He has published three pamphlets of poetry 'Candy Coated Unicorns and Converse All Stars', 'Thirteen Fairy Negro Tales' and 'The Wire-Headed Heathen'. His poetry is published by Flipped Eye, Akashic, Nine Arches, and several plays by Oberon Books. His new book #Afterhours is published by Nine Arches Press. inuaellams.com

Additional information

GOR008540937
9781786821782
1786821788
Barber Shop Chronicles by Inua Ellams
Used - Very Good
Paperback
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
20170607
96
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Barber Shop Chronicles