Race and sophistication simmer within the pressure cooker of an immigrant's life in America within the fiery hot-button comedy “Jaja's African Hair Braiding.”
Welcome to a busy Harlem hair salon in Jocelyn Bioh's bittersweet 90-minute romp directed by Whitney White in its riveting West Coast premiere on the Berkeley Repertory Theater through December 15.
Gossip and intuition flow like wine when the cheeky Bea (Awa Sal Secka) and the relaxed Aminata (Tiffany Renee Johnson) chat, however the long-simmering subtext is at all times there. Amidst the complaints about various shady men in her life and the jostling over who stole from whose customers, there’s at all times the fear of the world outside the salon.
In among the play's funniest moments, the melodramatic Bea incessantly throws sharp attacks on the vivacious newcomer Ndidi (the deft Aisha Sougou) over desirable clients. Bioh, best known for “School Girls, or; “The African Mean Girls Play” gently mixes hilarity with a touch of doubt and foreboding. The never-ending stream of dubious customers, skillfully played by Melanie Brezill and Leovina Charles, adds to the fun on this Tony-nominated play.
For all their wisdom and wisdom, these women are all too aware that they’re outsiders in a rustic that doesn't at all times welcome immigrants. That tingling feeling of fear, the constant reading of tea leaves as a matter of survival, is just a part of the ecosystem, identical to the sweltering summer heat.
All of those women immigrated from a special a part of West Africa, but all had the identical dream of a greater life. Gentle Miriam's (a radiant Bisserat Tseggai) heartbreaking story of separation from a lousy husband and the necessity to go away her little girl behind to pursue a brand new life cuts to the core.
These resilient women don't mind working until their hands blister and bleed if it means sooner or later getting their papers and becoming an actual American who doesn't must hide from ICE raids.
Despite the never-ending onslaught of hellish customers and the constant financial crisis, the salon is sort of a refuge, a secure place. Until it isn't anymore.
Marie (a sensitive turn from Jordan Rice), JaJa's smart daughter, is the closest to grabbing the brass ring. She even became her highschool's valedictorian by posing as her cousin Kelly and registering for classes using borrowed documents. Entrepreneurial Jaja (a regal Victoire Charles) could also be a tricky guy, but she knows her progress in New York will probably be limited. It's as much as Marie to make amends for all of them.
While White's production needs to choose up the pace and tempo a bit, there's no denying the depth and urgency of the play's themes, not to say the wry delights of the text, Bioh's wealthy gift for the peculiarities of language and dialect, the exuberant musicality of speech . Dede Ayite's costumes add to the cheeky atmosphere.
To be honest, whether we would like braids in our hair or not, all of us secretly long to develop into regulars at Jaja's, a full of life hangout filled with charm, spunk and courage.
“JAJA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING”
By Jocelyn Bioh, presented by Berkeley Repertory Theater
Through: Dec 15
Where: Berkeley Rep's Peet's Theater, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley
Duration: 90 minutes, no break
Tickets: $25-$134; 510-647-2949, www.berkeleyrep.org
Originally published:
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