View from the Cheap Seat

I rarely begin a review by singling out the creatives, but Paul Willis’s set design alone makes a compelling case for Jaja’s African Hair Braiding to transfer to the West End—and to contend for Olivier recognition. That this production of Jocelyn Bioh’s 2023 play is currently staged off-West End feels surprising. Following its multiple Tony nominations in 2024, including wins for Costume Design and a Special Award for Hair and Wigs, it has all the hallmarks of a West End success.

While some audiences may initially perceive the subject matter as niche, for many it will feel deeply familiar. Set in Harlem, New York, Jaja’s is a vibrant comedy centred on a group of women—and a few men—brought together in a hair braiding salon. Bioh captures the rhythms and relationships that develop in such spaces, where customers and stylists spend hours in close proximity. Like Barbershop Chronicles at the National Theatre, the play explores the connections formed between people whose lives might not otherwise intersect.

At its core is Marie (Sewa Zamba), the 18-year-old daughter of salon owner Jaja (Zainab Jah). Left in charge for the day while her mother marries Stephen—a man offering not love, but the promise of American citizenship—Marie navigates the pressures of responsibility and identity. Despite running a successful business and sending her daughter to private school, Jaja remains an undocumented Senegalese immigrant. Bioh presents a stark and unvarnished view of the American Dream: the salon’s staff, African immigrants, and its clientele, primarily Black American women, exist in a relationship of mutual dependence.

The salon’s customers are sharply drawn, from a demanding nurse preparing for a holiday to a high-powered businesswoman reliant on wigs to maintain a professional image. The play also examines tensions within the salon itself. When Jaja allows Ndidi (Bola Akeju) to rent a chair after a fire destroys her own business, long-standing braider Bea (Dolapo On), who harbours ambitions of opening her own salon, reacts with visible resentment—particularly when a loyal client defects. The unease around changing hairdressers is observed with precision and humour.

The final moments introduce a more overtly political dimension, highlighting the precarity and risks of immigrant life. However, this tonal shift arrives late in the 90-minute runtime and feels somewhat disconnected from the preceding energy of the piece. The bustling, noisy vitality of a 12-hour salon day dissipates abruptly, and several narrative threads remain unresolved. Miriam (Jadesola Odunjo), preparing to return to Sierra Leone for the first time in years, and Aminata (babirye bukilwa), still entangled with her unfaithful partner James (a standout performance from Demmy Ladipo), are left in states of ambiguity.

Yet this lack of resolution feels intentional. Bioh resists tidy conclusions, instead presenting lives in motion—messy, ongoing, and unresolved. It is precisely this refusal to simplify that gives Jaja’s African Hair Braiding its authenticity and quiet resonance.

Jaja’s African Hair Braiding is on at the Lyric Hammersmith until 25 April 2026 https://lyric.co.uk/shows/jajas-african-hair-braiding/