Nina Simone-inspired show celebrates following your heart - Brighton, Southampton and Worthing

The piece was written and directed by Apphia Campbell who has been its performer for the past 11 years, but it will be Nicholle who takes to the stage in the role at the Theatre Royal Brighton on Wednesday, September 18; at MAST Southampton on Friday, September 27 and Saturday, September 28; and at the Pavilion Theatre, Worthing on Friday, October 18 – in a show inspired by the life of Nina Simone and featuring many of her most iconic songs performed live.

“I saw the show in 2021,” Nicholle recalls, “And I was feeling a bit down and didn't really want to get out of the house but my sister said ‘I'm going to take you to see this show! I'm going to get you out!’ And she did and we saw it in just like an old hall that gave off quite churchy vibes. And it was just brilliant. I remember Apphia finishing the show and my sister and I just sat in our seats stunned. And I remember just thinking ‘Thank goodness this exists’ but I was also thinking ‘I don't know how she does that eight times a week!’ But my sister said ‘You can do this!’ I said ‘No way!’ and yet here we are three years later and I'm doing the show!

“To see a one-woman show that was a black woman was just insane and to see how she takes up the space was just huge for me as an actor. I think there's a lot of honesty and vulnerability in her portrayal which I'm definitely trying to cling to and trying to remember as I step into the character myself. It is about the rawness and about being able to really share.

“I would not say that it's a musical per say. It's more a play with music and I'm always looking for productions that amplify different sounds. I had just never heard anyone sing with that quality and that resonance before. I am heavily influenced by my parents and by the people I listened to growing up, but I'd never heard anyone that sounded similar to me until then – or similar to the people that I liked. So to come full circle now is just amazing, especially to come into a show that I really admired - and now to have the chance to really explore it for myself as a performer. I hope that it will affect people in the way it did me when I first saw it. There are so many reasons why it is such an important story. The story centres around a father and daughter relationship. Apphia wrote it as though inspired by Nina Simone but not a direct portrayal of Nina Simone's life. There are a lot of direct parallels but the character is not Nina Simone per se, and I think by doing that, by creating a Nina Simone adjacent, it makes it so much easier for people to feel closer to the character.

“And the themes are so important. The themes of the piece are about seeking equality and to have a passion about something that you really believe in. Nina Simone and the character in the play both speak about having a purpose, and it's about, as black people, daring to dream, to go for the things that you really want, the things you're passionate about, to follow your heart and not to see the boundaries that are put on you or the labels that are created around you. It's a about being able to create your own path...”