"...In refusing to turn Slessor into a saint,
they have produced a work with a
ring of truth about it. This show is a
credit to her memory..."
Susan Mansfield, THE SCOTSMAN

 

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. Features an original score by Mike Gibb and Mairi Paton.

During 2004 the show enjoyed sell out runs in Aberdeen (twice), Dundee and at the Byre in St Andrews raising more than £12000 for charities, most of the money going to the Mary Slessor Foundation who are valiantly carrying on her work in Calabar, West Africa.

On 3 September 2005 three members of the Byre cast, Lynne Binnie, Tricia Stewart and Caroline Wiseman, presented a showcase of music from the show to 2000 delegates at the Church of Scotland Women's Guild Annual Rally in the Caird Hall, Dundee while in June 2006 the show was produced at Dundee REP.

 

A potted version of the show was performed at the Scottish Parliament, Holyrood, Edinburgh on 7 March, 2007 and in October 2008 the musical was performed at the Mitchell Theatre in Glasgow.

"...a little gem of a work...engaging and without pretention..."
Joy Watters, THE COURIER