It's a simple idea, really. 1. Wear a uniform; 2. Protect who you love, what you care about; 3. Let nothing get in your way. Someone mugged Bruce's mum and he is not having it. The shock is still visible in her trembling fingers, rippling out across the calm waters of their lives. He grabs his hoodie, his uniform, his cape and goes out to find the culprit. Smithy wants everyone to stay inside, Uhuru wants everyone out. Tanya thinks it's boyish fun and games until, very suddenly, it isn't. Inua Ellams's play questions the boundaries between our right to self-defense and taking the law...

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. Inua Ellams's celebrated play was first produced by the National Theatre, Fuel and Leeds Playhouse in 2017.