King Cotton - The Lowry - 14/09/07 by Jeni Pemberton

The Autumn programme at the Lowry starts very strongly with the World premiere of King Cotton, Jimmy McGovern’s first stage play in over 20 years. A gifted writer he is perhaps most famous for his powerful TV dramas such as Cracker, The Street, The Lakes and his greatest success the BAFTA Award winning Hillsborough.

King Cotton is set around the time of the American Civil War and the Lancashire cotton famine. It delivers both a history lesson and an insight into day to day realities as it provides glimpses of the life of Tom, a poor mill-worker and brass band member from the North West of England and Sokoto, a black slave from an American cotton plantation.

Given the subject matter the play was always going to be serious and it was particularly hard hitting and emotional in act one where the action keeps switching rapidly between America and England. There were disturbing glimpses of the appalling treatment of slaves and speedy snapshots of the harsh world of the mill worker. Act Two was again dramatic and emotional as the story lines were developed and brought to climax. Luckily not all the action was tense and gloomy; God and Abraham Lincoln provide much needed humour in their brief scenes in both acts.

The play was well staged. I particularly liked the props and sound effects used to create the mill in act one .and thought that the set for act two was very effective both visually and practically. The battle scene in act two was stunning thanks to the excellent set, sound and lighting effects.

Different cultural references were woven throughout as the brass band music and traditional spirituals were selected or blended to provide an atmosphere and vibrancy that gave the performance a unique identity. Wendy Mae Brown (Jessie Sokoto’s wife) has a marvellous voice and her spirituals brought tears to my eyes.

Paul Anderson (Tom) was convincing in both his gentle wooing of Emma and portrayal of the impact of the later. Israel Oyelumade (Sokoto) played his challenging role well and also proved a strong and capable singer. John Henshaw was brilliant as a very irreverent God and brightened up the audience in both his scenes.

I did enjoy the performance, the subject was compelling and the music was superb. However the 28 scenes in act one made it hard for me to fully engage with the story or characters. I like a swift moving play but this was too much. Act two was fast paced but much more coherent and held my attention fully from start to finish