The Show
Two Lives Bound By One Thread
Two different worlds bound by cotton collide in this world première from the pen of Jimmy McGovern, multi-award-winning author of Hillsborough, Cracker and The Street.
With its heart in the truths linking the Lancashire cotton famine with the American Civil War, King Cotton is the epic story of Tom, an impoverishing mill-worker from the North West of England and Sokoto, a black slave from an American cotton plantation. Both are searching for their own freedom, but neither imagines that this journey will bring them together with such devastating consequences.
This universal tale, set to a moving live score of brass band music and traditional spirituals, is directed by Jude Kelly, former Artistic Director of West Yorkshire Playhouse, currently Artistic Director of London’s South Bank and one of the most dynamic and innovative theatre and opera directors of recent times.
A new musical.
Book by Jimmy McGovern, from an original idea by Ian Brownbill.
Directed by Jude Kelly.
Designed by Ti Green
Produced by The Lowry and co-commissioned by The Lowry and Liverpool Culture Company.