Does the Fringe offer something for everyone or is there a typical type of person that comes here and puts on a show? I thought there was but then I went to see Cutter’s Choice by Paul Ricketts and was more that taken aback by a show that had more heart and more sense than you would have expected. For a black comic to stay away for the usual stereotypes and the constant use of the N-word and put on a show that genuially does have a great sense of cultural and political history is comendable and he has my full respect.
Cutter’s Choice is what is it says, its a show about afro hair and the many names, styles, and lives that the afro has had. Most of what Paul said was beyond new to me, the names afro’s had; The Perfecto, The Professional & The Blow Up, and where the afro hairstyle came from. Most of his show is a reflective piece about his up bringing and how many black women during the 70s would wear wigs to get the Mary Wells look (even though Mar wells was wearing a wing). And with that most of the slides we see are of his mother and her various styles of hair and him from a baby to now which are well fitting for the show.
The show also has one of the greatest senses of black pride that I have ever seen. By working though his own persona story, his relationship with his mums boyfriend, living and growing up in a mainly white area, and his time at University your able to see something more than a stand up show. You being given a tour through the life of black people in the UK through hair an identity and this after all is a personal and politics history and he doesn’t let you down.
There is one point in the show that I think many people from ethnic minorities face and that’s the person with ‘black friends’ and thus posses more knowledge about what it means to be a minority more than the minority. He says that during his time at University he was told he need black awareness class. But this time at university also allowed him to define his own identity and who he thought he was.
Ricketts goes through the whole modern history of black hair from the 70s to now and what you have here is a unique look at the life and times of black hair in the UK (and US). He is very much a teacher in this way giving you all the information you need to understand the changes, why people wore their hair in certain ways, and how this was used to form an identity. Almost very decade has had a style of afro-hair, 70s Afro, 80s relaxed/jerrycurl, 90s Grace Jones Flat Top/dredds but each of these styles/trends end up getting picked up by a wider, non-black, audience and thus in a way it loses part of its own identity.
There is no show here at the Fringe that is as informative as well as funny and Paul seems to have put a great deal of his heart and soul in this show and the final product is a performance and show that I am proud to have seen and been a part of.
‘The many lives of afro-hair explained with class, warmth, and true character…you will never look at afro-hair again in the same way’ *****FIVE STARS
