When you hear the word musical, you tend to think of an uplifting show full of all-singing all-dancing tunes packed with joy and laughter.

The Color Purple, recently on stage at Salford’s Lowry Theatre, isn’t your usual musical. Yes, it does have lots of extraordinarily good vocals belting out some magnificent gospel music, but it concentrates on issues such as abuse, racism, poverty, and the female struggle to be taken seriously in a world dominated by men.

The story is based on Alice Walker’s 1982 Pulitzer Prize winning novel - a book I read as a teenager. It was made into a film starring Whoopi Goldberg in 1985 and has now been adapted for the stage - here produced by Curve and Birmingham Hippodrome, directed by Tinuke Craig.

The story centres on Celie, played superbly by Me’sha Bryan, who is living at home with her sister and father, who sexually abuses her, resulting in the birth of two children, which are cruelly whipped away from her as soon as they are born.

When a friend of her father enquires after Celie’s sister to be his wife, her father persuades the man,‘Mister,’ to take Celie instead.

Sadly, Celie leaves one abusive relationship for another as Mister treats her like a slave and repeatedly forces himself on her.

JOY: Celie played by Me’sha Bryan and Shug Avery played by Bree Smith.

Her only comfort is writing to her sister Nettie, but her replies from her are kept by her husband, leaving Celie to think her sister is dead.

Some joy does come into Celie’s life as Mister’s lover Shug Avery, played by Bree Smith, also starts a loving affair with Celie. 

The story follows Celie through the years and shows, despite all the cruel and harsh things life throws at her, she determinedly battles on and never gives up hope.

Me’sha is totally believable as the main character and has a fantastic voice - she really belts out the tunes with the audience applauding her and shouting words of encouragement throughout the show.

In fact, the whole cast was magnificent, with special mention to Anelisa Lamola, who played Sofia, who is married to Mister’s son. Anelisa commanded the stage and had the whole theatre behind her as she strutted about the stage with her strong feisty persona.

There are some funny bits in the production, thanks to a trio of gossiping village women - Doris (Karen Mavundukure), Jarene (Esme Laudat) and Darlene (Rosemary Annabella Nkrumah) who appear every now and then with their comedy songs.

The Color Purple is certainly thought-provoking and inspiring and one to watch if you can.