After critically acclaimed international performances including an award-winning season at Adelaide Fringe 2024, Seabright Live is bringing Black Is the Color of My Voice to Hall for Cornwall.
This powerful show has toured the UK nationally to standing ovations and played sell-out seasons in Shanghai, New York, Edinburgh and the West End of London.
Inspired by the life of Nina Simone and featuring many of her most iconic songs performed live by Florence Odumosu.
Written by Apphia Campbell, who originally performed in the show, the acclaimed play follows a 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. The show was originally written back in 2013; Campbell notes, “…it’s been 11 years now, and I think people still connect with the story.”
When asked why she chose to tell Nina Simone’s story, Campbell said, “I fell in love with Nina Simone when I was at college. For our senior project in university, we all had to write a one-person show. A friend of mine said, “You should do Nina Simone”, and I said, “Who’s Nina Simone?”
“After that, I started listening to some of her music and I fell in love with her sound and I wanted to understand where all of that feeling and that pain came from in her voice so I just started searching out more about her life. I saw that a lot came up about her mental health, and I wanted people to understand the woman behind the music and the woman who was able to convey all of those emotions that you felt in that music, and where that came from.”
Florence Odumosu takes on the role of Mena Bordeaux, the Simone-inspired protagonist, in the most recent tour of the show, that will be taking to the Cornwall Playhouse stage on Friday, 21st March.
Black is the Color of My Voice, although over a decade old, carries a sense of humanity and connection that’s still just as relevant and eye-opening today. Campbell reminds us: “There are so many things in the show that are human and people connect with – thankfully – and I think that’s why it’s still relevant and still really important.
Especially in thinking about the civil rights and various movements that are happening today, it’s always important to harken back to the past to see how they dealt with it, and hopefully that inspires our present-day thoughts and our present-day movements.”
For more information and to book tickets, visit https://www.hallforcornwall.co.uk/whats-on/black-is-the-color-of-my-voice/
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