Synopsis

When Ruth inherits her Aunt's antiquated hair salon, the antiquated clientele comes with it. The old girls’ weekly shampoo and sets are put on hold however when Ruth enters a prestigious hairdressing competition - her desperate attempt to drag the salon into the twenty-first century.

Ruth shuts up shop to surreptitiously work on her competition entry (Elenka, a Slovakian model, who has arrived for a special hair creation), but a locked door and a ‘closed’ sign is no deterrent for the spirited blue-rinse brigade. When they finagle their way in, Ruth's assistant, Bryony, is forced to make everything seem 'normal' to them, so they won't suspect that Ruth has even entered the competition, as winning it means end of their cosy way of life.

Ruth is torn by the tug of ambition versus her commitment to the faithful ladies and suddenly reaches a point of surrender. Luckily, Bryony is there to remind her of the stakes - fame and money as a celebrity hairdresser, or going back to working for someone else in obscurity, and never fulfilling her dream

Gonky Blatent-Severs, the sub-editor of 'Fab Hair' magazine, arrives to adjudicate, and bumps into Jordi, the photographer (and a regrettable past holiday fling for her) who has been sent by the magazine to cover the event. She pretends not to know him, but he is hell-bent on picking up where they left off.

Local GP, Dr Lemon, being secretly in love with Ruth, is affronted by Jordi's too-tight trousers, and with terrible timing the unplanned arrival of Mr Woodpigeon, Westminster’s Health And Safety Officer, sends everyone into a lather. In the middle of Ruth doing the old ladies hair to get rid of them quickly, whilst creating a masterpiece for Elenka, he nit-picks his way through all aspects of the Salon, and everybody has to run around making sure that what he demands to see is available - except that their idea of fire extinguishers and first aid kits etc isn't quite what he expects.

Understandably, all that has gone before, pales into insignificance when an elderly client is found seemingly dead under the drier. Perhaps the ladies are more 'compos mentis' than they appear, but can they save the day, or will something quite unexpected be Ruth's saviour?

This is one hilarious hair appointment that can’t be missed!

Duration

Characters

(3m, 7f)

• Ruth - 32, a highly skilled hairdresser, owner of 'Coiffure de Dames'
• Bryony - 17-19, junior / trainee hairdresser
• Dr Lemon - 40, the local GP (m)
• Elenka Svecova - 22-25, a Slovakian model
• Dolly Chorlick - 80s, the Salon helper and tea lady
• Mrs Enid Cotterill - 80s, a client at the Salon
• Mrs Mavis Lundy - 80s, a client at the Salon
• Jordi Chinchilla - 38-42, Spanish photographer (m)
• Gonky Blatent-Severs - 30s, Assistant Editor for ‘Fab Hair’ magazine (f)
• Mr Woodpigeon - 60+, Health and Safety officer working for Westminster City Council