Costa (Adam Hatzimanolis) is the style of man who holds centre stage, not only on his barbershop floor, but also in his family, amongst his friends and with his customers. He is an expressive man, with a romantic turn of phrase and a feeling for the meaningfulness of daily action, confiding in us that “the roots of the hair feed from the garden of the soul”. His customers come to warm themselves in his welcoming chair, and one of them, now an architect, Stanley (Richard Hilliar), still comes because in Costa he finds the affirming affection that he didn’t receive from his own father.
His father (John Derum), characterised by repressed feeling and unwillingness to communicate, is a style of man readily recognisable to an Australian audience. Just get on with it, he would say, when faced with emotional problems such as a wife’s severe depression. After his wife (a heartbreaking Barbara Gouskos) leaves, the young Stanley is allowed to think she left with another man, a situation redressed years later. However, Stanley’s father is not to be included in the final denouement as not even terminal cancer can break down his reserve despite Stanley’s appeals. Nevertheless, near death, he confides in Costa – ironically as Costa, coincidentally hospitalised, cannot speak – telling him that he is proud of his son. As Costa is meant to do, he passes these words of impoverished love onto Stanley, while we conclude that deliberate silence is a style to be abandoned.
Costa, along with small business peers, Mauritzio (again John Derum) and Gelsomino (Valentino Arica), is faced with the threat of extinction by a new shopping mall. The matter is discussed extensively and vehemently. In the process Costa, who has discouraged his daughter’s (Demitra Alexandria) participation in his business, despite her qualifications and expertise, is eventually won over with the aid of a little feminine guile. Invigorated by Costa’s enthusiasm, the small businessmen combine and even extend their business to include a cafe and agree to an advertising campaign devised by Johnny (Tim Ressos), a comic highlight of the play.
To achieve success, Costa and his friends have had to be open to new trends, to a multi-cultural younger generation willing to help with progressive ideas. Once before they were open to coming to an unknown country, setting up a new life and livelihood and now challenged once again, they are willing to change their style. But not completely. At the close, we note that Tina and Costa opt to maintain their own business identity rather than submerge it in Parkside.
The set design (Rachel Scane), dominated by a barber’s chair, cleverly reduces the effect of a too large stage area by having the characters, two of whom provide musical accompaniment, sit in seats arranged around both sides. In addition, back projection was used effectively to evoke nostalgia by showing shots of barbershop windows, to make witty asides (particularly a shot of Agassi with long blonde hair) and to feature the parodic ad campaign. All in all, the production travelled smoothly (lighting/Laura Kelly, light and sound Tom Massie), but most importantly the performance had a kind of joy to it that the audience carried away with them into the bitter wind.
