Caroline Clegg might well say “at my age I now realise that I can’t change the world” but from the outside it looks as though she’s having a pretty good go.

Caroline, the award-winning director and founder of Manchester’s Feelgood Theatre, is bringing Slave: A Question of Freedom back to The Lowry this week.

First staged 14 years ago the play is based on the book written by Mende Nazar about her experiences of surviving rape and slavery in her native Sudan, before becoming an asylum seeker in the UK.

For a small production, it had a major impact first time round being performed at the House of Lords and winning numerous awards including the first Human Trafficking Foundation Media Award. It is also widely credited with influencing the Modern Slavery Act which came into force in 2015.

Caroline Clegg

“You’ve got to do your bit,” said Bury-born Caroline, who has an international reputation for work in both the theatre and in opera. “There is a Buddhist teaching that you can drop a pebble into a pond and watch the ripples it creates. I have to keep dropping those pebbles and hope that the ripples will impact a few people here and a few people there.”

In revisiting Slave: A Question of Freedom, Caroline has been granted a rare opportunity to update a work.

“Things have changed from 14 years ago,” she said. “We now have the Modern Slavery Bill; Mende is now older and moved on with her life.

“But the situation with asylum seekers and trafficking is still there. In fact people trafficking has gone up exponentially in those 14 years, so it is a story that needs telling.

“Then the situation in the Sudan is horrific at the moment. It is in the grip of famine and the the Nuba people, the indigenous Sudanese people, are being obliterated. A slow genocide is taking place.

“So we have updated the play on many levels to reflect this and to bring in the global aspect of the issue of trafficking and asylum seekers.

“It could just as easily be a story from Romania or Eritrea or Afghanistan.”

In many respects the issues raised in the play have got worse not better in the intervening 14 years.

“What upsets me are the number of people who are being trafficked in the UK and enslaved,” she said. “Slavery may have been abolished more than 200 years ago but it’s still going on today. There are more people enslaved now than at height of transatlantic slave trade. You’ve got to think how can that be?”

Caroline is determined to raise awareness of the issue through theatre and although the subject matter in Slave: A Question of Freedom is challenging, she believes the work will appeal to theatregoers.

“Through it all there is a story of hope,” she said. “Friends said to me over 25 years ago that with theatre you can make them laugh, make them cry and leave a lasting impression and that’s what I have always tried to do.

“There are some dark aspects to this story but I think the audience will leave both uplifted and inspired.”

After spending the rest of the week at The Lowry, Slave: A Question of Freedom will go on tour including a date in London. Will the production once again be performed in front of politicians?

Slave - A Question Of Freedom

“I’m trying,” laughed Caroline. “We have been invited to Speaker’s House on anti-slavery day next week and I’ve been invited to say a few words and boy will I take some fliers for the production with me.”

Whether it’s a play with a serious message, an open air production in Heaton Park of Dracula or working on Sir Paul McCartney’s Oratorio in America, Caroline’s goals remain the same.

“Every opportunity is about story telling and I bloody love it,” she said. “Whether that’s in Heaton Park with families and connecting with local people who might never normally go to a theatre or at an opera house, it’s still the same; telling that story and engaging with people.

“I want to show that theatre is for everybody; it’s about sharing stories - I couldn’t do anything else.”

For a show to be effective Caroline has some golden rules.

“The production values must be good,” she said. “It’s got to be crafted really well. I can’t stand anything that’s too self-indulgent. And the show has simply got to be good especially at this time when there’s no spare money around.

“When people buy a ticket it’s my responsibility to give them a really uplifting experience. I don’t take audiences for granted. It’s got to be good for them. They have honoured me with coming and I want to give them 100 per cent the best show that I can.”

Caroline often has several projects on the go and clearly thrives on it.

“I think that’s me being a farmer’s daughter from Bury,” she said. “I was brought up to work hard. But I love the opportunity to work in different mediums; I love the diversity of it.

“Whether it’s creating Romeo and Juliet in a township in Zimbabwe with drumming and acapella singing or working with the Welsh National Opera, I’m trying to tell a story.”

Caroline is forthright, funny and self deprecating.

“I don’t have imposter syndrome as bad as I used to,” she laughed. “I’ve got my PhD from the Royal Northern College of Music now so just call me Doctor Clegg.”

Slave: A Question of Freedom is at The Lowry, Salford Quays until Saturday. Details from www.thelowry.com