Race and sophistication bubble over within the stress cooker of life for an immigrant in America within the fiery hot-button comedy “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding.”
Welcome to a bustling Harlem hair salon in Jocelyn Bioh’s bittersweet 90-minute romp, directed by Whitney White in its participating West Coast premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre by means of Dec. 15.
Gossip and instinct move like wine when the brassy Bea (Awa Sal Secka) and the coolness Aminata (Tiffany Renee Johnson) chat, however the long-simmering subtext is at all times there, too. Amid the complaints about varied shady males of their lives and the exuberant jostling over who stole whose clientele, there may be at all times the concern of the world exterior the salon.
The melodramatic Bea usually takes potshots at spirited newcomer Ndidi (the deft Aisha Sougou) over coveted prospects in a few of the play’s funniest moments. Bioh, greatest recognized for “School Girls, or; the African Mean Girls Play,” delicately laces the hilarity with strands of doubt and foreboding. The endless stream of doubtful prospects, nimbly performed by Melanie Brezill and Leovina Charles, add to the high-jinks on this Tony-nominated piece.
For all their smarts and savvy, these ladies are all too conscious that they’re outsiders in a rustic that doesn’t at all times welcome immigrants. That prickly sense of hysteria, consistently studying the tea leaves as a matter of survival, is simply a part of the ecosystem, just like the blistering summer time warmth.
All of those ladies immigrated from a distinct a part of West Africa however all had the identical dream of a greater life. The gentle-hearted Miriam’s (a luminous Bisserat Tseggai) heart-rending story about breaking away from a louse of a husband, having to depart her little lady behind to make a stab at a brand new life, cuts to the bone.
These resilient ladies don’t thoughts working till their palms blister and bleed if it means getting nearer to at some point getting their papers and turning into an actual American who doesn’t must skulk and conceal from ICE raids.
Regardless of the endless onslaught of consumers from hell and the fixed monetary crunch, the salon is sort of a sanctuary, a protected house. Till it isn’t.
Marie (a delicate flip by Jordan Rice), JaJa’s brainy daughter, is closest to seizing the brass ring. She even turned her highschool’s valedictorian by passing herself off as her cousin Kelly, utilizing borrowed paperwork to register for sophistication. The entrepreneurial Jaja (a regal Victoire Charles) could also be a badass however she is aware of she is going to solely get thus far in New York. It’s as much as Marie to make good for all of them.
Whereas White’s manufacturing must sharpen its tempo and tempo a tad, there’s no denying the depth and urgency of the play’s themes, to not point out the wry pleasures of the textual content, Bioh’s wealthy reward for the idiosyncrasies of language and dialect, the rollicking musicality of speech. Dede Ayite’s costumes heighten the sassy vibe.
Reality be informed, whether or not or not we would like braids in our hair, we could all secretly lengthy to turn into regulars at Jaja’s, a vibrant hub of attraction, guts and pluck.
Contact Karen D’Souza at karenpdsouza@yahoo.com.
‘JAJA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING’
By Jocelyn Bioh, offered by Berkeley Repertory Theatre
By means of: Dec. 15
The place: Berkeley Rep’s Peet’s Theatre, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley
Working time: 90 minutes, no intermission
Tickets: $25-$134; 510-647-2949, www.berkeleyrep.org
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