The jazz diva, the revolutionary, and the pianist sit like a constellation, joined up by the three corners of the grand piano. Can life ever be as simple as a jazz song? A black artist is an ambassador for blackness whether she likes it or not – an injustice no less true today. The subtle, smouldering Ruth Rogers-Wright, who played Simone, sang ‘Sinnerman’ stripped bare of music, nothing but voice and thunder. She made an unforgettable appearance post-show, no longer as Nina but as herself – a powerful assertion of her own existence as an artist when stripped of Simone’s glittering robes. I hope that in the not-too-distant future, an actor playing the legend of Ruth Rogers-Wright will do the same.

New Town Theatre, until 30 Aug.
tw rating 4/5 | [Sarah Murphy]