Joe Barber
The personality Joe Barber
The name of a character in a series of comedies, set in a Cape Town, and written and performed by Oscar Petersen, David Isaacs and Heinrich Reisenhofer (1999-2010). Based on the shop of a real Cape Town barber, Mr Joseph Swain, who had named his shop “Joe Barber” (an Afrikaans pun - "Joe" being a Cape-Afrikaans way of pronouncing "jou", Afrikaans for "your" - i.e "Your Barber"). Mr Swain's personality, the pun and his shop had become the inspiration for the series of hits plays by the same name. Swain went on to play a key role by supporting performances of the plays and it became tradition that on the last performance of every season he would take his bow at the end of the show.
The Joe Barber series of plays
A comedy by Oscar Peterson, Heinrich Reisenhofer and David Isaacs. (Originally called Meet Joe Barber in 1999) A play (later a series of plays) about daily events in a District Six barber shop. Inspired by David’s barber shop in Parkwood, called “Joe Barber”, Oscar, David and Heinrich paid many visits to the shop observing the clients, listening to the stories and jokes. In this way, the characters of Joe and Gamat developed and a Cape theatrical phenomenon was born. The real Joe Barber, Mr Joseph Swain, has played a key role supporting the production to this day, and it is a tradition that on the last performance of each season he takes a bow at the end of the show. just Joe Barber, followed by its sequel Joe Barber and Boeta Gamat Too. First performed by Oscar Peterson, Heinrich Reisenhofer and David Isaacs at Skokiaan Theatre Bar, Cape Town 1999. This play went on to play the various festivals, and in 2003 won a Kanna award for comedy at the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK). A spin off has been a TV series. It has also been followed by other plays by the same group – Joe Barber and Boeta Gamat Too (2002), Joe Barber 3 the Family Affair (2005), Joe Barber 4 (2007) Joe Barber Up Close (2009), Joe Barber 5 – School Cuts! (2010), Joe Barber and Friends (2013), In the latter years produced by Djamaqua Productions.
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