In a city just like yours, hope is in short supply. Cynicism reigns; power overrides justice; lying is as easy as breathing. Until one day, a series of peculiar events begin to splinter normality: the sick rise from their beds, the dead live again and the oppressed glimpse a life worth living. For the first time, the city's bloodstream seems to thrum with change. At the centre of it all: a strange man radiating love. But who is he? And how long before the powers that be crack down on this subversive, this radical, this 'Liberator'?

Inspired by the work of Rob Lacey and reimagined by Richard Hasnip, The Liberator is a passionate retelling of the life and teaching of Jesus. Told in a modern idiom, this is a gospel at once faithful and utterly fresh.

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Georgian London is the centre of empire, the crucible of the New Jerusalem. Her gutters run with effluent and blood and her skies are choked with the smoke of a hundred factories and foundries, but above the smoke, the stars will shine. George Williams is a country boy who comes to the city to find his place in the world, and to make his mark. Appalled by the spirit-crushing rhythms of worker’s life, he fights to spread the light of God, and create a place where the soul can be nurtured.

“We are more than bodies to be fed to a machine. We are made for more than work. We have souls, we have spirits and somewhere in this dead city there must be a place for those things.”

Tried, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, John finds himself breaking rocks alongside killers and thieves. But John has a secret. John has a story, and it will change everything.

Written and produced by Saltmine Theatre Company, Darkness Falls was created as a partnership production with UCCF: The Christian Unions. UCCF have produced a seeker Bible study and gospel of John, ideal to give away at the end of the performance. For more info on the resources available from UCCF go to IVP Books

This show is written for university mission and contains aggressive behaviour and mild bad language. It is suitable for an audience of age 12 +

“We found the production amazing…the script was so uplifting and varied – entertaining, challenging, moving – and it was great to sense the full reality of John’s gospel through it.”

Press-ganged into the navy at nineteen, flogged for desertion miles away from the girl he loves, John Newton feels he has nothing to live for. Making his way into the harsh world of the eighteenth century transatlantic slave trade, he climbs up through the ranks to slave ship captain. He is a man without hope, making enemies of all he meets. Then one stormy night, with his ship going down, he faces certain death...and nothing is the same again. This is a powerfully moving story of slavery, freedom and the remarkable power of love and grace to transform a life.

“It flowed so effortlessly from one scene to the next, everyone portraying each character so smoothly and naturally. The writer of the production must also be congratulated as the portrayal was so simple but SO effective and very powerful”