Theatre review: All Hell Toupée

Edinburgh Festival Fringe: What contradictory attitudes we have towards hair in the 21st century.

Gilded Balloon at the Rose Theatre (Venue 76)

***

Fashion dictates that, regardless of gender, we pluck, wax and shave every errant follicle from our bodies, yet the egos of some of the most powerful men in the world seem to depend on maintaining the illusion that the hair on their heads is their own.

Kate Bowes Renna, winner of last year’s Gilded Balloon Sitcom Trials, plays a range of characters in her own show, principal among them Christina Gutieras, wig-seller to the stars. But now a certain presidential figure has been unmasked as a wig-wearer, and Christina’s on the run with the FBI on her tail.

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It’s a far-fetched tale which takes in a Trump-supporting Mexican, a short-of-stature wig-maker abducted in a suitcase and a masterful monologue as Kellyanne Conway, full of Trumpian non-sequiturs. The show leans a little too close to ridiculous for my liking, and the performance could be more assured, but at its heart is a serious question about why pandering to the egos of a handful of powerful men has come to dominate the world’s political arena.

Until 13 August. Today 2:15pm.

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