THE heroic subject of a Fringe play about slavery once performed his own show in Scotland, its performers have discovered.

Henry Box Brown: A Musical Journey, tells the story of the man who earned fame by escaping slavery concealed in a small wooden box, and then had to cross the Atlantic to Britain.

The producers of the show, which is at the Assembly Rooms and being performed by New York gospel singers and off-Broadway actors, discovered a cutting from the Fife Herald of 19 August 1852, which carries a report which says Mr Brown once appeared at the Rose Street Chapel, Kirkcaldy.

It says Brown “gave a very thrilling account of the manner in which he escaped from the galling bondage of slavery, by being packed as luggage in a box, 3 feet 1 inch long, 2 feet 6 inches deep, and 2 feet wide, and sent per steam-boat and railway conveyances all the way from Richmond … to Philadelphia, a distance of upwards of 300 miles, having been for 27 hours confined in said box, and thereafter delivered in Philadelphia, but not before being almost bruised and suffocated to death.”

In the show, he “exhibited the identical box in which he made his escape, and went into it, and showed his audience the way in which he was packed into it.

"He also sang several excellent melodies, one of which has been composed by himself, giving a short sketch of his wonderful escape.”

Mehr Mansuri, who wrote the musical, said: “It was a wonderful to discover that Henry had been to Scotland more than 165 years ago and that we are following in his footsteps, literally and artistically, by bringing his story back here again after so long.

"He was such a remarkable man, someone who proved that the human spirit can transcend almost any obstacle.

"And in a time as troubled as our own there is a much-needed message of optimism in there, that change can come, evils can be overcome and the world can be made a better place.”

Henry Box Brown is directed by Tony Award winner Ben Harney with original compositions by New York Composer, Frank Sanchez and Mehr Mansuri and musical arrangements by Oscar nominee Jack Lenz.

Brown worked in a Richmond, Virginia, tobacco factory during the time of slavery in the US.

In 1848. his children and pregnant wife were sold to new owners in North Carolina.

Brown decided to escape slavery and enlisted the help of a white churchman, and a slave-owning gambler.

In later life Brown became a prominent abolitionist, a performer, musician and a published author.