Holding Talks by Ola Rotimi
An Absurdist Drama.
When the play begins, we see the apprentice going through pages of tattered newspapers and idly reading out some of the captions in the pages, and the barber lies on the bench at the other side of the shop, sleeping in snatches. When the man enters, obviously a customer, we are told that he is a fat man. He is also a man of arrogance, for he surveys the room, letting his eyes sweep slowly across its entirety, taking everything in. (page 1)
The apprentice attends to him first and even wakes up the barber from his supposed slumber. The man asserts his arrogance on the barber and wins because the barber’s total indifference and complacency unnerves the man.
