Written By: Mark Armstrong
Format: Play
Genre: Comedy
Date: May 24 2018
Location: Epstein Theatre, Liverpool
A beauty salon can be an interesting place. To some, it’s the perfect environment to relax. To others, it’s a chance to get some of the local gossip. And to a few, it represents the opportunity to show off one’s physique and muscularity. With that in mind, The Salon stage show brings all of these themes to the core, and with a lot of sexual innuendo to ramp up the volume considerably.
We’re introduced to Carol (Leanne Campbell), who manages the salon, as well as her similarly-aged teammate Sheila (Sarah White), a younger wannabe-pop star Tia Maria (Olivia Sloyan), and the manager of the venue (played by Peter Amory). Carol is still getting over her former husband Callum (who we never see) leaving her for another woman, Sheila is obsessed with sex and makes no bones about it, Tia is also driven by the lure of an attractive male but is more interested in their bank balance, and the boss has just had a blazing row with his boyfriend and fellow owner of the salon (played by Harry Derbidge), having seemingly caught him up to no good with a female, which calls into question his sexuality.
In the meantime, we meet Sam (Philip Olivier), a young man who uses a flash car, a highlight-driven hair do and a desire to be God’s gift to women to catch the eye of Sam, though he continuously tries to seduce Carol. But he has a dark side, alongside his clear insecurities over being considered a real hunk, and that is the fact that he is making his significant wealth from ‘dealing’ (or at least trying to) which worries Carol in particular.
As the show progresses, different elements come to the fore: Carol being advised by Sheila to rebound from the Callum situation with a one-night stage; Sheila’s own wishes to get it on with any guy wearing trousers despite being married; Tia aiming to woo Sam whilst also auditioning for The X Factor; the weird relationship between those in charge; and Sam’s interests in not only copping off with at least one employee in the salon, but to gain ownership as part of his growing local empire of businesses. As we go into the second half and beyond, each of these strands receives attention and resolution ranging from chance meetings to wild situations to unexpected disappointment.
The tone throughout is comedic, and given the eyebrows-up nature of the almost-constant innuendo, none of it can be taken seriously, but in a good way. For instance, Tia’s remark that it’s disgusting for Carol to have only been with one man (and her delivery of the line) cracks the audience up, and Sheila comes out with enough sexual references to make Roy Chubby Brown blush. There are some moments where intercourse is very heavily teased, and a few “sight gags” add to the craziness of it all, from an elderly man who is getting a haircut reacting to a staff discussion in an awkward manner to Sam showing his excitement at Tia giving him a massage.
The salon setting itself is very well-designed, providing a perfect backdrop whilst adhering to an authentically pink colour scheme. There are plenty of localised jokes, such as Carol repeatedly saying “Ta-ra” when finishing a phone conversation and a one-liner about a female customer meeting someone in St. Helens and driving them home (I wonder who that is referring to). There were some technical glitches, including Carol’s microphone becoming muffled towards the end, and some unexpected humour, like the cast struggling to hold in their laughter during a serious scene at the finale when one or two of the performers got their lines a bit mixed up.
On the downside, possibly because this is a new run for a show that was written a few years back, there were a couple of homophobic remarks which didn’t seem necessary, and didn’t exactly add to the experience. In terms of the target audience, this is clearly aimed at an adult crowd who enjoy sexually-driven situations but, if that does not include you, then your reaction to the show may range from not finding it a bit funny to being pretty offended. And the show is actually a little on the light side when it comes to jokes themselves; once you take away the swearing and the innuendo, the show could do with more “proper” one-liners to move things along, with some scenes feeling like they drag as a result of some subpar dialogue exchanges.
But this is the sort of show that attracts an audience who will know exactly what they are getting into, and therefore almost everyone who goes along to see The Salon should have a fun night, and will come away with a couple of bizarre yet humorous, and undoubtedly raunchy, memories from the show. It may not be to everybody’s tastes, but to its target group, The Salon delivers a lot of laughs and a very entertaining experience all-round.
Overall Rating: 7.5/10 – Good