In the Orange Tree Theatre’s production of Vasco a war rages. All the men in the little town of Sosso have gone to fight – except for Vasco, the timid barber.

Lieutenant September arrives on a mission to recruit the barber. Vasco is needed for ‘top secret’ duty. But is it really to cut the Mirador General’s hair?

Meanwhile, in a cart in the forest, Marguerite dreams of a scissor-wielding hero. Accompanied by her father Caesar and his collection of stuffed dogs, she sets off in pursuit.

Georges Schéhade (1905-1989), a Lebanese poet and dramatist who often worked in Paris where Histoire De Vasco played in 1957, wrote this controversial play at the height of France’s Algerian war. Funny and moving, half fairy tale, half Goon Show, the Orange Tree Theatre’s production is the premiere of a hitherto unknown version by the poet Ted Hughes.