Writer/Director: Apphia Campbell
Original Directors: Arran Hawkins, Nate Jacobs
It seems likely that the awards and standing ovations since the play’s first appearance in 2013 are mainly due to the electrifying performance of Nicholle Cherrie – and her predecessors in the role, the first of them Apphia Campbell herself. It is easy to forget the partial nature of the text in Cherrie’s impactful acting and singing.
The limited on-stage furniture does not include a piano and Cherrie is accompanied by less than subtle pre-recorded music. Fortunately she is quite capable of singing a cappella- hints of spirituals and a soulfully slow version of Billy Taylor’s great Civil Rights anthem, I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free, for instance.
Campbell sticks pretty close to the actual story up until the time of Martin Luther King’s death when, of course, Simone set off on her travels. Her intention to present Nina in her own terms rules out much that followed: such things as threatening her devoted European manager with a knife, for instance. In response to unfavourable comments Campbell encountered in Shanghai, “I wanted to scream, ‘Yes, but she was also a woman!'” – not the best excuse for drawing a knife! Better to leave it at the height of her Civil Rights involvement.
There seems to be no good reason for re-christening her Mena Bordeaux – this is Nina Simone and this is her story (as far as it goes) with all the names changed – except Martin Luther King, of course!
Campbell succeeds in providing a vehicle for Cherrie to entrance the audience with snapshots from Nina’s early life: after her father’s death she brings a suitcase of memories to, possibly, a hotel room or an apartment house until finally she realises that her father’s love is something she neglected. The scenes with her parents are delightful, her mother predictably po-faced about anything to do with sex. Then her first real boyfriend and her abusive husband follow on, the account of her husband’s beating competing with her fury at her parents’ mistreatment at a concert as examples of the harsh side of life.
The Civil Rights story is dealt with via broadcasts, a furious Mississippi God Dam and the delicate I Wish I Knew, but the abiding memory is of Cherrie, earnestly committed and mischievously humorous, finding every sort of solemn expression for her mother, summoning up passion when needed, and performing very capably such songs as I Loves You Porgy and I Put a Spell on You.
Campbell deserves credit for not using My Baby Just Cares for Me – always something of a sidetrack for Nina, though a very profitable one – for the record company!
Huddersfield was the last but two date in an intense UK tour before the show takes off to Australia.
Reviewed on 15th October 2024.
The Reviews Hub Score
Electrifying performance
