Jimmy McGovern's tale of slavery and the ties - physical, emotional, familial, economic - that bind man to man has arrived at the Liverpool Empire.
It was given pretty glowing reviews by the press during its run at Salford, and now at Liverpool - including yours truly after a treat of a night out last night.
I hope people get along and see the original cast in their droves before London no doubt wakes up and beckons, and the show heads south for a West End stint.
On a more personal note, I was happy to see the musicians on stage were from the Ashton-under-Lyne brass band.
Many people who will go to see the production may have connections with the slave trade.
But I come from 'the other side.'
A number of my ancestors were cotton weavers and tenters in the mills of Ashton and Dukinfield during the 1850s and 60s, and it made me wonder what conditions they faced as the cotton embargo bit.
Maybe they were reduced to pawning their few possessions. Maybe they went hungry. Who knows? No information remains and they could neither read not write.
On a lighter note, John Henshaw was a fabulously 'human' God, gruff and grubby in vest and braces and refusing to sink the Alabama because its Scouse crew would cause him no end of grief if let loose in heaven.
Catherine Parkinson wrote...
I have a copy of Thomas Armstrong's novel King Cotton published in 1947 dedicated:
'For those people of Lancashire, without whose sacrifices the United States of America might not exist as we know it today, whose "sublime Christian heroism" in the words of Abraham Lincoln, is not to be found commonly recorded in the history books of his mighty country across the sea'
It is quite a saga almost 1000 pages and covers the period before and during the cotton famine, set in Liverpool, Lancashire and South Carolina. I read it as a teenager almost 50 years ago and it affected me so profoundly I kept the book to this day.
It is probably out of print now but I would be happy to pass on my copy to anyone interested.
Catherine Parkinson
Posted by: Catherine Parkinson | October 19, 2007 9:51 PM