Girl Blue - A new play by June Carryl on the life and work of Nina Simone

Girl Blue. Photo courtesy of June Carryl.

A new play by June Carryl, exploring the cost of artistic genius through the life and work of Nina Simone.

Directed by Michael Matthews

A new play inspired by the life and inner world of Nina Simone, GIRL BLUE will receive its first UK industry presentation at Seven Dials Playhouse, London, on Wednesday 21 January, as part of its development toward future public performances later in the year.

Written by award-winning playwright June Carryl (who also reads the part of Nina Simone) and directed by Michael Matthews, the reading marks the play’s first UK outing ahead of wider plans for a full production later in the year. Carryl previously wrote and performed BLUE, which received a Scotsman Fringe First Award at the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and performed at Seven Dials Playhouse in 2024.

GIRL BLUE examines the cost of artistic genius and what it demands of those who carry it. Moving between two defining periods in Nina Simone’s life, 1968 and 1977, the piece deliberately juxtaposes the apex of her public success with a moment of profound personal rupture. Named as a nod to Simone’s 1958 debut album Little Girl Blue, the title anchors the play in the origins of a career that would later collide with fame, political conviction and profound personal cost.

In 1968, Simone is at a peak of her artistic and political influence, performing at LA’s Troubadour nightclub while releasing some of her most politically charged and enduring work, cementing her status as one of the defining artists of her generation. By contrast, 1977 finds Simone isolated in a New York airport hotel after cancelling a performance at Carnegie Hall - a moment that exposes the fragility that can sit just behind public success. The late 1970s saw Simone under intense personal and professional strain, navigating mental health challenges that were never fully diagnosed in her lifetime but are now widely understood to have been bipolar disorder. As the play shifts between timelines, Simone battles memory, fear and the weight of her own genius, confronting what it means to live with conviction when silence might feel safer.

An artist who refused to separate her work from her politics, Simone used her platform to speak out against racial injustice, segregation and state violence in America, often at great personal and professional cost. GIRL BLUE feels particularly resonant at a time of renewed political uncertainty, when democratic institutions appear increasingly fragile. In moments of turmoil, many turn to artists for clarity and resistance. This retelling of two pivotal moments in Simone’s life asks what it means to speak against injustice and the cost attached.

Presented by No Boundaries Theatrical Productions, the company behind BLUE (Scotsman Fringe First Award) and Sleeping Giant (by Steve Yockey), the show was developed in 2021 at Center Theatre Group’s L.A. Writers’ Workshop under the guidance of acclaimed playwright Luis Alfaro. GIRL BLUE’s presentation at The Seven Dials Playhouse marks the play’s debut UK industry showing as it continues its development toward a future full production.