[img]http://www.hamepages.com/Mother_of_All_the_Peoples/LandLive1.JPG[/img]
[color=purple]
What a privilege to attend the premiere of this new Scottish musical" Mary Dalgity, EVENING EXPRESS.
"Thanks to a Scottish playwright, Mary Slessor's story is finally being told" Jim Gilchrist, THE SCOTSMAN
"A little gem of a work....engaging and without pretention" Joy Watters, DUNDEE COURIER [/color]
Her grave in Calabar is still visited, almost 100 years after her death, by dignitaries and royalty from around the world. She is the only woman to appear on a Scottish bank note. She is arguably the worlds most famous female missionary. And yet the average Scot knows little of Mary Slessor, the Dundee mill girl who devoted her life to living and working amongst the most primitive of peoples in West Africa. She remains Scotland's forgotten heroine.
Mother of All the Peoples will hopefully go someway to remedying that situation. Based on the life of the Aberdeen born missionary, the remarkable story of Mary's journey from the slums and mills of Dundee, living in fear of a drunken and violent father, through her work in the Dundee Mission Halls to her years in the deepest jungles of Calabar is told with a mixture of humour and pathos.
Mother of All the Peoples has been written by Mike Gibb and features a score of ten new songs provided by Mike Gibb and Mairi Paton.
The show premiered at the Lemon Tree from 20 February 2003 with a cast of three of Northern Scotland's finest female actors Jill Hay, Yvonne Morton and Sarah Alexander - and directed by that doyen of North East theatre, Annie Inglis. It sold out its limited run four weeks prior to opening night making it the fastest selling show in the Theatre's history and enjoyed tremendous audience acclaim.
The show was featured on Radio Scotland's Arts Programme and is the subject of a documentary, intended for the US and Canadian cable networks, made by Tartan TV.
It was brought to the stage thanks to the financial support of the Scottish Arts Council and Aberdeen City Council and the sponsorship of TotalFinaElf Exploration. A percentage of all ticket receipts and CD sales was donated to Christian Aid to help with their work in Africa.
Due to the success of the inaugural production the show is being reprised with the same three talented actors at the much larger Aberdeen Arts Centre from 27 to 29 November 2003. Due to a demand for tickets the box office opened in June, more than six months in advance of opening night, and sold out almost a month prior to opening night.
In March 2004 the show enjoyed a sold-out run at the Gardyne Theatre, Dundee with a Tayside cast of Lynne Binnie, Tricia Stewart, Julia Walker and Aileen Air. In addition to enjoying great critical acclaim, it also raised £7000 for the Mary Slessor Foundation to assist them in carrying on Mary's work in Calabar, Nigeria. For further information on the Foundation contact them at info@maryslessor.org or visit their web site at www.maryslessor.org
Future productions include the Byre Theatre, St Andrews (18 to 20 November 2004), West Church, Inverurie (26/27 November 2004 for Christian Aid) and the Gardyne Theatre, Dundee (24/26 March 2005). Productions in Perth, Edinburgh and Glasgow are being considered.
Music from the show is to be used by STV in their forthcoming programme about Mary Slessor, part of a "Six Great Scots" series.
Photographs courtesy of Michael Craig.
