Sweet Fade is the story of a female barber, told by a female barber. When a man sits in a woman’s barberchair, who has the power? The man paying for his haircut, or the woman with the cut throat razor in her hands…? This is the story of a woman realising her power. A woman
living on a razor’s edge. It’s the story of an epic personal transformation fuelled by all the little transformations she gives to men all day. Cut off the dead ends. Put in a hard part. Get a sweet fade.
Abby is a barber. She lives and breathes beard trims and slickbacks and flat tops. Her barber chair is like a therapist’s couch, a priest’s confessional - complete strangers tell her secrets they’d never share with their wives, or mates, or boyfriends, or bosses. These brief, transitory interactions, are woven into a new narrative of a day in the life of a female barber. Sexual power, London, misogyny, freedom, cash-in-hand, hand-to-mouth, fragile masculinity and ‘next, please..’ all feature as she comes to new realisations of her worth and potential.
Barbers listen. To stories banal and extraordinary, to secrets, to lies, to memories, to dreams. Sweet Fade gives a barber a voice - to tell stories banal and extraordinary, to whisper secrets and
lies, to remember, to dream.
9-10 Nov 2017 8:45pm