BBC Radio 4, 24 December 2012
A comic tale, recorded live at the BBC Radio Theatre, from the
a cappella group Barbershopera. Esteve Johnson (Rob Castell), a Spanish matador with an accent strongly reminiscent of Andrew
Sachs' Manuel in Fawlty Towers, arrives in the seaside town of Shavingham in East Anglia, to claim his inheritance
after his father, a barber, has died suddenly. At first he is horrified at the idea of sacrificing his profession for
something so mundane as shaving; but as the story progresses, he gradually acquires a penchant for shaving (shades of
Sweeney Todd without the murders), tries to woo local town crier Vicky Barnet (Lara Stubbs), and becomes involved
in an unfriendly rivalry with local barber Trevor Sorbet (Tom Sadler). The subject is ripe for high drama; here it is treated in comic fashion.
The five-strong cast have wonderful voices and a keen sense of
the absurd. However I have to admit that by the end of the production I had become rather tired of its
Carry On-style humour. Maybe I'm being a bit of a party pooper, but there is a limit to the amount of mileage
that can be extracted from jokes about privies, bottoms and bodily functions. The cast delivered their
lines at the tops of their voices (reminiscent of old-fashioned melodramas); I'd have welcomed a little more aural lightr
and shade.
Nonetheless I do believe that Barbershopera are an exceptionally
talented outfit, and deserve all the plaudits and/or awards they have hitherto received, and will continue to receive in the
future.
