Review: Black is the color of my voice, The Wardrobe Theatre – ‘intimate and uplifting, but with room to grow’

You know that feeling when you really want to be blown away by something, but you just aren’t? On paper, a show inspired by the creative, personal and political awakening of Nina Simone, with her songs running through it, at the Wardrobe Theatre, looks like a top night.

So much so that the run here sold out before it opened, and will probably do great business on tour – I hope it does, not only for the sake of the venues where it is playing, who deserve to survive, but also to give this production time to work out what it wants to achieve. Because currently it feels both raw and overdone in equal measure. It is a show pushing at an open door, but it still doesn’t quite let us in.

During a three day vigil after the death of her father, Mena Bordeaux reflects on her childhood as a piano playing prodigy, through racist rejection from her chosen college course to full on Civil Rights activism, via a violent marriage and parental disapproval.

Having brought with her a suitcase of memories as triggers for the stories she recalls, she talks to a photograph of her father, and breaks into snatches of the songs she wrote to express her burgeoning anger and eventual acceptance of what life has thrown at her.

The play is structured in an arc which is familiar to audiences of one-person shows, pulling no surprises as it takes us through Mena’s reminiscence to her eventual uplifting conclusion.

Black is the Color of My Voice was written in 2013 and performed until now by its creator Apphia Campbell, who has played to critical acclaim and awards ever since. The show comes with a history of five star reviews. She chose to give her protagonist a name which alludes to – but isn’t actually – Nina Simone so as not to impose an impersonation on the actor.

Florence Odumosu as Nina Simone in Black is the Colour of My Voice – photo: courtesy of Seabright Productions

But the original version was definitely a vehicle for Campbell’s ability to reproduce that distinctive sound – her reputation is well established, whether she intended it or not.

Now, Campbell directs the tour with Florence Odumosu as Mena. With a great voice and plenty of physical confidence, Odumosu seems a little over-awed by the job she has been given. I have every faith she will relax into doing less with her performance, to give us room to feel it along with her instead of presenting it to us as a fait accompli.

A show as intimate as this needs to make us feel we’re in the room on that vigil with Mena, and for her to address us directly – tonight’s audience was totally up for it; the show would do well to be a little less self-conscious.

Black is the colour of my voice is at The Wardrobe Theatre, on February 17-19. Tickets are available at www.thewardrobetheatre.com. The show also comes to Theatre Royal Bath on March 30-April 1, and tickets are available at www.theatreroyal.org.uk.

Main image: courtesy of Seabright Productions

Read more: Review Little Women in Black, Wardrobe Theatre

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