Barber Shop Chronicles (Student Editions) - Softcover

Ellams, Inua

Softcover

ISBN 10: 135020014X ISBN 13: 9781350200142

Publisher: Methuen Drama, 2021

Synopsis

Newsroom, political platform, local hot spot, confession box, preacher-pulpit and football stadium. For generations, African men have gathered in barber shops to discuss the world. These are places where the banter can be barbed and the truth is always telling.

Barber Shop Chronicles, which was partly inspired by verbatim recordings, is a heart-warming, hilarious and insightful play that leaps from a barber shop in Peckham to Johannesburg, Harare, Kampala, Lagos and Accra over the course of a single day.

It was first produced by the National Theatre, Fuel and Leeds Playhouse in 2017 and is here publishedas a Methuen Drama Student Edition with commentary and notes by Oladipo Agboluaje.

About this title

About the Authors

Born in Nigeria, Inua Ellams, MBE, is a poet, playwright & performer, graphic artist & designer. He is a Complete Works poet alumni and facilitates workshops in creative writing where he explores reoccurring themes in his work - Identity, Displacement and Destiny - in accessible, enjoyable ways for participants of all ages and backgrounds.

His awards include: Edinburgh Fringe First Award 2009, the Liberty Human Rights Award, The Live Canon International Poetry Prize, The Kent & Sussex Poetry Competition, Magma Poetry Competition, Winchester Poetry Prize, an Arts Council of England Award, a Wellcome Trust Award, A Black British Theatre Award and The Hay Festival Medal for Poetry. In June 2023, He was honoured with an MBE for Services To The Arts.

He has been commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre, Tate Modern, Louis Vuitton, Chris Ofili, BBC Radio & Television. His poetry books include Thirteen Fairy Negro Tales and Candy Coated Unicorn and Converse published Flipped Eye, The Wire-Headed Heathen by Akashic Books. His plays include Black T-shirt Collection, The 14th Tale, Barber Shop Chronicles and Three Sisters published by Oberon. He founded The Midnight Run (an arts-filled, night-time, urban walking experience.) The Rhythm and Poetry Party (The R.A.P Party) which celebrates poetry & hip hop, and Poetry + Film / Hack (P+F/H) which celebrates Poetry & Film.

Oladipo Agboluaje was born in London. He was educated in the UK and in Nigeria. He has written many stage and radio plays. He is the winner of the 2009 Alfred Fagon Award and is a recipient of the Peggy Ramsay Award.

Jenny Stevens was an Associate Lecturer for the Open University and currently combines educational consultancy work with teaching and writing. She is the co-author with Pamela Bickley of Essential Shakespeare: The Arden Guide to Text and Interpretation (2013) and Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama: Text and Performance (2016).

Chris Megson is Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London. He has taught and published widely in the field of modern drama, and is editor of The Methuen Drama Book of Naturalist Plays. Other works include: Get Real: Documentary Theatre Past and Present (with Alison Forsyth, 2011), and Modern British Playwriting: The 70s: Voices, Documents, New Interpretations (2012).

Matthew Nichols graduated from the University of Birmingham in 2003 and has been teaching and leading outstanding Drama and Performing Arts departments for over a decade. Matthew also has extensive experience at a senior level with several exam boards, and was responsible for writing one of the reformed GCSE qualifications in Drama. In addition, Matthew works with schools, colleges, universities and theatres across the country. Matthew is a successful and sought after Drama education consultant, and was one of the founders of Drama Defined, which specialises in delivering high quality Drama education courses to staff and students. Matthew is currently Head of Drama at Manchester Grammar School. You can reach him on Twitter @matthew_drama.

Edition details

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 135020014X
• ISBN 13: 9781350200142
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 136
• Editor: Agboluaje Oladipo