A heartfelt and powerful personal celebration of the impact of Nina Simone’s music and influence.
It is a complex and unreachable target trying to portray someone’s emotional life and memories on stage without it feeling speculative or contrite. Apphia Campbell beautifully pens a raw unpacking of her admiration to the life and trials of Nina Simone without getting too close to her likeness. Campbell’s goal was to “Conjure Nina Simone’s spirit giving the audience a window into her world – without the expectation of impersonation”. Something only revealed in the programme and teased into the performance.
Taking in the 75 minutes’ worth of emotion being poured on to the stage, at points we are left with more questions than answers for what was trying to be interpreted. Campbell often skirts dangerously close to a biographical performance but doesn’t include the sass and ferocity that fans of Nina Simone would recognise; that being said, the character she does create under the pseudonym Mena Bordeaux is nuanced and deeply affected by the historical challenges around her. Similarly to Simone, Bordeaux often responds to the social and political climate in the only way she knows how, with a song. The music of Nina Simone is sprinkled into the story at points where the lyrics become directly relevant to the anecdote being literally unpacked out of an old
trunk on the stage.
The tiered seating and open stage feel too far removed from the intimacy that a show like this requires. A sparse room with only the necessities of a bed, desk, chair and a ragged carpet for decoration is all this great singer has as she literally unpacks her baggage, whilst speaking directly to the spirit of her late father. You get a strong sense from the writing that this is an intimate reflection of how Campbell sees Nina Simone’s life reflected in her own experiences.
Knowledge of Nina Simone aside, Apphia Campbell’s one woman performance is tantalising as we witness a chaotic confessional and singing that aims to reach deep inside of you. In the audience there are cackles and cheers of approval from American voices, it is unclear whether they have happened upon the evening’s performance or travelled far and wide to see this homage to an African American Woman. The fans of Nina Simone’s music or the ones who feel a deep personal connection to soul and Jazz are left craving more of the music. The lighting that dips in and out of general wash to an isolated spotlight and the endless use of props and bits of costume throw us in and out of memories that articulate her life. In the short time we have it feels as though there are too many different topics spouting up that leave us with more questions than answers.
For an hour and 15 mins we are trapped in a sparse bedsit watching a woman unravel with nothing to offer her apart from an applause after a powerful rendition of a Nina Simone song. ‘Black is the color of my Voice’ is an interpretation of what it would be like if Nina Simone was able to unpack her baggage both symbolically and theatrically. What was a compact story told from the perspective of how the past can hold you back from your destiny (something as incomprehensible as explaining soul and jazz music) and leaves us wanting much more of the music.
Following performances at Stratford East (until 15th June), Black is the Color Of My Voice plays at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 20-25 August and is on tour throughout the Autumn. Details: www.bitcomv.com