An exceptional award-winning play about enslavement is set to hit The Lowry this week and is not to be missed.
Feelgood Theatre Productions‘ Slave – A Question of Freedom is based on a true story of a girl’s fight for survival in the 1990s and will take the audience on a rollercoaster of emotions.
And BusinessManchester.co.uk visitors can see the show this Wednesday or Thursday for just £10 a ticket using this code.
Mende Nazer’s tale is set in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan and London, and tells of her joyful childhood until the raiders on horseback come. They burn the village, murder, abduct and enslave the children. Twelve-year-old Mende was one of those children.
For seven long years she was kept as a domestic slave, not knowing whether the rest of her family was alive – and her story told through drama is a shocking first-person insight into the modern day slave trade. It is also a fascinating memoir of an African childhood and a moving testimony to a young girl’s indomitable spirit in the face of adversity.
The performance at The Lowry is told by an outstanding ensemble of eight actor-musicians as a feast of storytelling, music and dance – a celebration of Mende’s spirit, the beauty of the ancient Nuba culture, but also the horror of trafficking and modern slavery.
Mende’s inspiring story – which inspired the BAFTA nominated film I Am Slave on Channel 4 – transcends borders and her voice beckons us to consider the essence of freedom, and to question why fifty million people around the world are enslaved today.
Caroline Clegg, fresh from directing the first ever staged production of The Liverpool Oratorio by Sir Paul McCartney in Cincinnati, USA, is at the helm for this production, with music composed by Carol Donaldson. It’s written by Kevin Fegan; taken from the autobiography “Slave (Virago)” by Mende Nazer & Damien Lewis.
In parallel to the production, Feelgood is working with the Nuba community, the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Unit at the University of Manchester, the Human Trafficking Foundation the Bakhita Centre at St Mary’s University and the William Wilberforce Institute.
Since 2010, Caroline Clegg has continued to raise awareness of the situation in Sudan with the Mende Nazer Foundation and in 2016 Mende and Caroline, travelled together to the Nuba Mountains to experience the reality and also take medical aid. Subsequent work has seen the building of a clinic and installation of water pumps.
Feelgood’s 30th anniversary national tour begins at The Lowry, Salford Quays before moving onto Bristol’s Tobacco Factory, Shakespeare North, Prescott and then onto the Riverside Studios, London.
Slave – A Question of Freedom runs at The Lowry from Wednesday, October 9 until Saturday, October 12, with six performances available. Tickets can be booked here: Slave: A Question of Freedom | What’s on | The Lowry
