Barber Shop Chronicles

For generations, African men have gathered in barber shops.

They sometimes sit for haircuts, sometimes sit to listen, mostly they stand to talk. These barber shops are confession boxes, political platforms, preacher-pulpits and football pitches, places to go for unofficial advice, from where to keep in touch with the world.

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.

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.