Writer: Joy Adeogan
Director: Ozioma Ihesiene
Peckham Fringe 2024, currently in its third year has in the past been an inclusive and dynamic launchpad for impressive talent including Tatenda Samisu’s No ID which went onto the Royal Court and David Alade’s Sunny Side Up which recently transferred to Soho Theatre. Hair That Defies Gravity is an hour-long, all-female show, set in the Nigerian-owned Golden Ori hair salon.
It’s run by the imperious Feya and daughter, Abidemi (played by the writer Joy Adeogan), alongside hilarious ‘Auntie’ or Ama (Emefe Owusu-Cole) who speaks her mind, offers uninvited opinion and overshares. The intertwined relationships between these women are at the heart of the play. But the real star, centre stage, is the red vinyl hairdresser’s chair because whenever someone sits in it, confessions spill forth. Hairdressers’ chairs can have this effect, so that when combined with a spotlight and the rattlesnake percussion of onstage musician, Francis Xavier Ssuna, this truth becomes magical.
Intergenerational tensions play out at the Golden Ori, between the younger characters such as Hope played by Ahadi King ‘Ori, who waits for the right moment to reveal her queer identity to her mother alongside conflicting debates about oppressive Western beauty ideals that are not merely air-fillers but narratively crucial as the plot unfolds. When white girl, Ruth (Polly Waring) arrives at the salon, a formerly “beautiful all-black, non-white space” to help, the dynamics shift and there is some initial mild suspicion.
What has drawn her to the Golden Ori? Will Hope finally come out to her mum? Will Auntie go back to her abusive partner, Daniel? There are African-inspired dance pieces performed by the ensemble to live music that intercut the action and use of spoken word as voice-over. Identity, heritage, and community are key strands in Hair That Defies Gravity, some written into the narrative arc, others presented as expositional monologues. The metaphor and political resonance of hair cannot be escaped: roots, braided histories, breakage, growth alongside the importance and pride of hairdressing: “When we love our hair, God loves us.”
This is a play about cultural identities, all shades of black and brown: Jamaican, African, Dual Heritage but it’s also about patriarchy; there are no positive representations of men, who either abuse women or leave them. We learn that Shade (Ella Ashton-Shaw) was sexually abused by her father while Auntie staggers back onto stage, bashed and beaten by her partner who has clear anger management issues.
The mythic image of Medusa is raised by Abidemi and the theory she was actually a beautiful black woman, the snakes on her head, locks or braids: ”Her hair is alive, magical in this gravity-defying way.” Hair that Defies Gravity is a rich and busy story with perhaps too much squeezed into one hour – there is a soap opera or serial drama fighting to get out of the format. Towards the end, it feels a bit like a Nollywood melodrama with some awkward transitions and arguably unnecessary voiceovers. but there is a liveliness and authenticity to this production that brings strong female voices to a male-dominated territory.
Runs until 2 June 2024
