Inua Ellams’ acclaimed play Barber Shop Chronicles will embark on a UK tour in Spring 2019.
Inspired by the barber shops in his hometown of Peckham, South London, Barber Shop Chronicles looks at the special place they hold in the hearts of African men.
For generations, barbershops have been the newsroom, political platform, local hot-spot, confession box, preacher-pulpit and football stadium – where men have come to discuss the world.
Ellams’ dynamic play journeys from a barber shop in London, to Johannesburg, Harare, Kampala, Lagos and Accra where the banter can be barbed and the truth is always telling.
The tour will open at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester on 7 March 2019 and will travel to Leicester, Scarborough, Bristol, Sheffield, Leeds, Oxford and Southampton with further venues to be announced soon.
The tour follows two sold-out runs at the National Theatre, acclaimed performances at West Yorkshire Playhouse (now Leeds Playhouse), a hugely successful tour of Australia and New Zealand and the forthcoming tour of America and Canada.
Casting to be announced.
Barber Shop Chronicles is directed by Bijan Sheibani, designed by Rae Smith, with lighting design by Jack Knowles, movement direction by Aline David and sound design by Gareth Fry.
The production was co-commissioned by Fuel and the National Theatre with development funding by Arts Council England. The tour is supported by Fuel, National Theatre, Leeds Playhouse, The Binks Trust, British Council ZA, Òran Mór and A Play, a Pie and a Pint.
