Olga Thompson crafts a charming love letter to her homestead, a front-room hairdressers, in this one-person show that's bound to bring a smile.
Sweeping fringes and back-combing are the height of glamour in this teen's dream, as Olga Thompson opens the doors to her past, most specifically her parents' hair salon El Greco of Hornsey. The eponymous real life stage for this short film, ensuring the trip down memory lane is equal parts immersive and heartfelt.
"Packs a punch of eighties nostalgia and faded glamour which is sure to stay with the viewer like the whiff of Elnett."
We meet Thompson as her thirteen year-old self (I'm referring to the character hereafter as Olga, and the performer as Thompson), a chatty and enthusiastic teen whose "magic hands" have earned her a level of smugness and newly found prestige within the hairdressing realm. With an endearing affected awkwardness, Thompson excellently embodies the restricted worldview of Olga, with ambitions to match (marrying George Michael, bless)- after all, who better to play you than you?
It's clear Thompson loves to explore physicality in her characters, even from the way Olga tugs at her T-shirt and constantly teases her hair. This sense of physicality is writ large across a myriad of patrons, family members and a Greek superstar with ease. Thompson takes her time donning wigs which feels at home in the setting, though the character transitions do feel bloated by some overlong dance sequences (what feels like an overhang from the transition between stage and screen).
Where El Greco of Hornsey really shines is in the waves of authenticity coming off Thompson's writing and performance. There's a warts-and-all approach to discussions of cultural fatphobia, and a disdain for vegetarians is a stereotype which feels thoroughly lived in via Olga's aunt. Thompson also allows for the impact of those words on Olga: her classmates' taunting echoes as she stares into a mirror, before shaking off that insecurity with more back-combing.
At the heart of the piece is a clear love for family and the community built by El Greco itself. No need for a city to be a character, this building packs a punch of eighties nostalgia and faded glamour which is sure to stay with the viewer like the whiff of Elnett.
El Greco of Hornsey is available to watch on demand until the 30th August, find out more and buy tickets here.