Gareth's Culture and Travel Blog

I found this a somewhat strange evening, not what I was expecting, very much a show in two halves, one uncomfortable and one captivating.

It’s subtitled ‘a story about me and Nina Simone’ and in the first half Josette Bushell-Mingo is holding a conversation with the deceased Nina Simone along the lines of ‘nothing’s changed’ when it comes to civil rights, for which Nina was a very vocal champion; in contemporary terminology, black lives matter. It gets very angry and though it’s justifiable anger, I found it very unsettling, particularly when she is imagining which members of the audience would be killed if she were a gunman like those who have perpetrated such crimes against black people. 

There are a few songs in this half, but it’s mostly a rant. I couldn’t decide if it was rehearsed or improvised, the slickness suggesting the former, but the faces of the band members and the deadly silence of the audience suggesting the latter. Very edgy, but very uncomfortable. If I’d been on the end of a row at the back I might just have slipped out. Was this the right place, time and audience? 

Then the band strike up, she returns, looking stunning without the afro wig of the first part, a vision in black and gold, for an uplifting and thrilling mini-concert where she interprets Nina’s songs brilliantly, accompanied by the terrific trio of musicians. Wow!

A strange concoction indeed.