The Barber Shop

The Barber Shop is a wordless farce workshopped by Mncedisi Shabangu and cast.

The original text

A comic play that explores the often overwhelmingly difficult, but comic experiences, of a street barber, Baba ka Dennis, an immigrant who leaves his rural home to make ends meet in the City of Gold. Not a conventional word is spoken as the improvised piece uses "vluit" (Afrikaans for "whistle"), the unique township form of communication that has its roots in the self-defence units of the once violence-ridden township of Katlehong.

The play was originally developed through improvisation at the Sibikwa Community Theatre and the Market Theatre Laboratory, for The Whistlers of Art Project. Directed by Mncedisi Shabangu, with Vusi Mahlangu, Bafana Makhado, Gift Sithole and Thabo Xaba.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

2000: First staged in March in The Laager at the Market Theatre, directed by Mncedisi Shabangu, with Vusi Mahlangu, Bafana Makhado, Gift Sithole and Thabo Xaba.

The production went on to acclaimed runs at the Wits Theatre, the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town, the 2003 Arts Alive Festival and a rerun at the Market Theatre inm 2004.