Riding Lights Theatre Company, 31st Mar 07 at York Theatre Royal

John Newton 1721-1807

Like many I'd once believed the comfortable evangelical legend about slaver turned hymnwriter and clergyman John Newton - how he had given up slavery as a result of a religious conversion rather than the far less palatable fact that Newton's main career as a slave trader was carried on after he had embraced Christianity. That issue and the equally disturbing question as to why the writer of "Amazing Grace" only spoke out against slavery in the latter years of his ministry are explored in this magnificent, harrowing yet uplifting play by Murray Watts. In the process Watts skilfully brings to our attention another historic tale, this one largely forgotten by the public - the stunning story of Olaudah Equiano who, with his sister, was kidnapped from his village in what is today modern-day Nigeria, underwent unspeakable hardships as a slave, became a hero fighting in various naval battles, was baptised, cheated of his income and sold back into slavery before buying his freedom in 1766. Returning to Britain, Equiano had a profound spiritual experience on a passage across the North Pole and in 1789 wrote a book which he published himself, detailing his hard and brutalised life. There is no direct evidence that Newton and Equiano ever met in person (though they almost certainly did).

Olaudah Equiano c1745-c1797

The action of African Snow takes place in the mind of John Newton, where the frequent conversations between Newton and Equiano are impassioned exchanges, often desperately moving, interspersed with frequent scenes on a slave ship where the cage-like design by Sean Cavanaugh adds greatly to the play's atmosphere. In fact everything about African Snow - the incisive narrative which never descends into political polemic or evangelical cliché but brings out the bruised and battered souls of two heroic historic figures; the sharp and incisive direction of Paul Burbridge and where daringly black members of the cast convincingly take on the roles of figures like the courageous William Wilberforce, naval officer Michael Pascal and brutal Quaker merchant Robert King; and the haunting and rhythmically compulsive music of Ben Okafor - is quality. Special mention must also be made to the Riding Lights cast with Roger Alborough as Newton and Israel Oyelumade as Equiano both offering towering performances of complex multi-faceted and thoroughly believable characterisation. With the bicentenary of the Act, abolishing the Trade in African Slaves, we are currently awash with music and film commemorating that great political victory in 1807. But I doubt whether we'll see a more powerful and spiritually forceful work than this pulsating human story, brought so creatively to the stage by Riding Lights.