Ports Fest 2022: Nina Simone's life explored in Black is The Color of My Voice at New Theatre Royal | Interview

Written by and starring Apphia Campbell, Black is The Color of My Voice is inspired by the life of Nina Simone and features many of her most iconic songs performed live.

Following sell-out runs in Edinburgh, New York and London it is coming to New Theatre Royal as part of PortsFest. The acclaimed play follows the successful singer and civil rights activist as she seeks redemption after the untimely death of her father.

She reflects on the journey that took her from a young piano prodigy destined for a life in the service of the church, to a renowned jazz vocalist at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement.

Apphia, originally from Florida, wrote the play while living in China – the play made its debut in Shanghai in 2013. She now lives in Edinburgh.

Recalling her inspiration behind the show, Apphia says: ‘I was really interested in her as a woman, I fell in love with her music and when people would talk about her I felt that they would talk about the erratic side of her – the public side of who she was, and I wanted people to understand the woman behind the music.

‘In trying to write about her, I wanted to introduce that side of her to people and also get them to listen to her music in a different way.’

To prepare for writing the play, Apphia consumed anything she could find on Nina’s life.

‘I did a lot of research – watching everything I could find. At the time when I wrote it, there wasn't a movie, there wasn't a documentary,’ a poorly received biopic, Nina, was released in 2016, and there were a brace of high-profile documentaries put out around the same time, ‘so all I had really was her autobiography, a biography written about her, and then everything I could find on the internet.

‘But I really used her autobiography as a source for material because who better to tell you about their life than the person in their own words?’

And it also chimed with where Apphia was in her life. ‘I could empathise a lot with her.

‘At the time I was living in China, and I was having my own journey of self-realisation, I suppose. I saw a lot of that in her autobiography – trying to find herself and make her own way in the music industry as a woman, as a Black woman. And also in a format that she didn't really anticipate she would be playing – she wanted to be a classical pianist, and then she ended up being a jazz pianist, or a folk singer as she called herself.

‘I saw a lot of similarities in my own journey and I found it easier to tap into what she must have felt like – her inner thoughts, and to connect to that.’

So was it the theatrical side or the music which came first when putting the show together?

‘I guess it was a bit of both. Nina Simone always said that she liked to set a mood with her music, and I did kind of start with the music and think about how that made me feel in those moments. But because my background is in theatre, I always start with character when I’m writing, so it was about nailing that character and figuring out the essence and the truth of her. I think they worked in concert, really.

‘I use a lot of music in my work, and I let the music help me tell the story when I'm working and writing.’

While the play has far outreached Apphia’s original plans – ‘I had no ambitions of it going beyond that rooftop space in Shanghai’ – this year has seen someone else take the role on the road for the first time.

‘It came to a point a few years ago when I was thinking about how I wanted it to keep going beyond me – I have other interests and other things I'd like to do, so it was a natural progression for it to have another actress come on and start taking over.

‘That's been really liberating, but also quite affirming as a writer to know that the work can still live beyond me as well.’

Florence Odumosu has taken the lead in an extensive tour of England and Wales and is now in a three-week run at King’s Head Theatre in London.

‘Florence took that on and she was amazing. I know it wasn't easy for her with me as a director/original performer and for her to be the first one, but she took it on like a champ.

‘I saw her recently because we just opened recently in London and I hadn't seen her since the first performance. To see her now, it's, oh my gosh, she's taken such ownership of it. It's been a wonderful journey to watch her grow into it.’

However, it is Nina’s music and its message that Apphia believes will endure.

‘Her music is timeless and as long as we are all going to be on this earth, there's always going to be an issue of civil rights and us needing to try and understand each other. From that perspective, her music will always be relevant – especially with Black people being proud of who we are, and up against any equality or injustice.’

It is at New Theatre Royal on Sunday, July 3 as part of Ports Fest. Go to newtheatreroyal.com.