The production - the first such collaboration between the two theatre companies - brings John Newton, the former slave trader who made a dramatic conversion to Christ, face to face with Olaudah Equiano, a former slave and leading black figure in the British movement to abolish the slave trade.
The play has been commissioned by Church Mission Society, founded in 1799 by representatives of the abolitionist movement including William Wilberforce, and deliberately coincides with the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade this year.
But what makes this powerful production so extraordinary is the intention at its heart to tell the abolitionist story from a uniquely black perspective; African Snow features only one white actor in its otherwise entirely black cast.
And the play isn't just about the past either. The Artistic Director of Riding Lights, Paul Burbridge, hopes the production will leave the audience with a determination to tackle modern forms of slavery in the world today, like economic injustice and sex trafficking.
African Snow has already received rave reviews from the likes of The Times and the BBC since it opened at York Theatre Royal three weeks ago, and the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has praised the production for successfully transforming "bygone history into a pulsating human story".
Christian Today caught up with Paul to find out his motive behind the production of African Snow and what he hopes members of the audience will take away from their theatre experience.
CT: You've almost finished a run of African Snow in York. What's the response been like?
PB: We've been running three weeks and two of those weeks were officially holiday weeks but we were still getting a really good audience level. York Theatre Royal, who is co-producing this with Riding Lights, have really been really pleased with the numbers coming to what is a new play and a new production.
Since the schools have been back this week we've had really large audiences and we've put on extra matinees so young people have been coming along and we've been getting a good range of ages.
CT: And the younger audiences have responded well to it?
