World of Curls

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World of Curls: Braids

Braids

BBC Radio 4 - World of Curls, Braids

In the salon, women come and go talking of weaves and braids, journeys past and to come.

In Ronkę’s Peckham salon, World of Curls, women come and go talking of weaves and braids, journeys past and to come.  Created by Yolanda Mercy and Jade Lewis.

In Peckham, between the Chicken Shop and the Afro Food Cash & Carry, you'll find World of Curls.  Ronkę and her fellow hairdressers Blessing and Peaches will relax or braid, weave or cut.  

Going to the hairdresser is where Black women learn about their culture, through the hair styles they see being created, the languages they hear and the stories they'll never forget. And Ronkę shares her worries about her daughter Bim.  She is getting into trouble at school and  Ronkę and her husband Seun fear this will be a stumbling block for her future.  What exactly are their options?

Yolanda Mercy’s Quarter Life Crisis was the first play to be heard on Radio 1Xtra and has been performed in Edinburgh, London, and Lagos, It was chosen to be one of the reopening season shows at the Bridge Theatre, London shows in Autumn 2020 where it played to full houses.  Her first TV show BBW was commissioned and broadcast by Channel 4.   She is currently on attachment at Soho Theatre as part of Soho Six. 

Jade Lewis is a theatre director and directed the stage version of Quarter Life Crisis.  Her recent work includes Resident Director on Nine Night at the National Theatre and Trafalgar Studios.  She was nominated for the Stage Debut Director’s Award for Superhoe at the Royal Court and was selected by Audible to work on their new writing for audio drama series GNR8T.   

Together they have created World of Curls.

Cast:
Ronkẹ			       Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́jọ
Peaches                         Michelle Greenidge
Blessing			       Deborah Bahi
Seun			       Yinka Awoni
Bim			               Emerald Crankson
Salesman                       Patrick Elue

Sound Designer		Richard Haynes
Written by 			Yolanda Mercy
Directed by 			Jade Lewis
Produced by			Caroline Raphael
A Dora production for BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Drama

In Ronkę's Peckham salon, World of Curls, women come and go talking of weaves and braids, journeys past and to come. Created by Yolanda Mercy and Jade Lewis.

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