Forever Mine

20 February 2023

THE LOVE-STORY BEHIND THE WORLD’S BEST-LOVED HYMN

All-island theatre tour visits Longford

“Forever Mine”
Friday 24 March 7.30pm
at St. John’s Church,

Longford

Tickets €5

St. John’s Church in Longford is delighted to host a performance of the brand-new stage play “Forever Mine” as part of its all-island tour. 2023 marks the 250^th anniversary of “Amazing Grace” – the world’s best-loved hymn and one of the most recorded songs of all time.

At its heart, Amazing Grace tells the dramatic story of its author John Newton. The original stage play and costume drama, Forever Mine, explores this powerful story through the lens of the two great loves of John Newton’s life – his love for God and his love for “Polly” (his nickname for his wife Mary).

Based on Polly and Newton’s love letters and on letters, diaries and authentic historical writings, Forever Mine is a true story of separation and reunion, death and new life, love, loss and redemption. Although set in the 18th century, this moving narrative will resonate with modern audiences.

The drama also looks honestly at John Newton’s role in the slave trade. It traces his slow journey to repentance and his later work supporting the campaign for abolition as mentor to William Wilberforce. Forever Mine also elevates the lesser-known voices of the abolition movement such as former slave and writer Olaudah Equiano and the poet William Cowper.

Forever Mine is brought to life by a stellar cast of professional actors starring Ellis Wells as John Newton, Susie Garvey-Williams as Polly Newton, Gideon Assuming as Olaudah Equiano and Ryan Moss as William Wilberforce.

With venues in Munster, Leinster, Connacht and Ulster, the debut tour of Forever Mine will have its finale in Buncrana, on the shores of Lough Swilly, in County Donegal, where John Newton’s ship The Greyhound, dropped anchor after a ferocious Atlantic storm in 1748 – the Irish connection to this global story that inspired the play.