Cindy and the wicked stylists

Lucy Wigmore's heroine contends with cutting comments

Once upon a time, every down-trodden fairy tale heroine dreamed of marriage to a handsome prince.

But times change, and in Salon 71, a comic twist on Cinderella, the female protagonist sees a career as the path to happily ever after.

And Lucy Wigmore, Salon 71's writer and sole performer, has her own ambitions for the one-woman show. Wigmore wants the five-day Auckland season, part of this year's Comedy Festival, to be the start of big things.

"I would love it to tour nationally and internationally. The plan is to start with Auckland, take it around the country and then hopefully to next year's Edinburgh festival."

Salon 71 is about Cindy, a brow-beaten apprentice hairdresser who in seven years of toil has never been allowed by the two wicked senior stylists to wield a pair of scissors anywhere near a client's tresses.

Cindy's dreams of one day entering and winning the Golden Shears hairdressing competition stop her from using scissors, clippers and straightening irons for anything other than their intended purpose.

Of course, there's a love interest, but the mild flirtation with stylist Sam, the handsome prince of the piece, comes second to cutting hair.

Wigmore plays seven characters in the play as well as a pair of clippers and curling tongs which keep up a light-hearted banter about the twists and turns of Cindy's fortunes.

"It all gets a bit crazy and there are times when I think, oh my God, I'm doing a solo show playing all these characters - some of which aren't even human - with a whole lot of stuff going on.

"I suppose you could say I'm feeling the fear and doing it anyway."

It's a new experience for Wigmore, whose last appearance was in the bitingly bitchy satire The Women with five other actors, but Salon 71 has been in the planning for a few years.

Like others before her, she was inspired by the spectacular success of Jacob Rajan's Krishnan's Dairy, which showed how performers can create their own opportunities.

Following Rajan's achievements, several solo shows have done the rounds, but Wigmore points out women who have tackled such projects usually stick to drama.

"You still don't see many women doing comedy shows like this."

Salon 71 started in 2002 as a drama school project when Wigmore accompanied a hairdresser friend to a styling competition and was immediately captivated by the backstage drama.

"It was so mad. It was like this new world that I never knew was going on with people speaking in tongues. I mean, they use numbers to talk about hair colours so there were people talking about doing a 51.

"I was captivated by the theatricality of it all, the wonderful characters and the intense competition."

She admits it took time for the story to gel and for a while she stood around in a room full of props wondering how to work them into a performance. Then the idea of Cinderella popped into her mind.

Since taking Salon 71 beyond the classroom, Wigmore has worked with seasoned director Ben Crowder to shape the show. Crowder says there is nothing quite like working on a one-person show, which demands a ridiculous amount of energy from the performer.

"It's not like the script is all written and you just have to learn the lines," he says. "You are devising it as you go and constantly fine-tuning."

* from tonight until June 3