Famous for strutting her stuff on the catwalk, supermodel-turned-producer Jodie Kidd and her dad John have been working for a decade to bring Yarico – a powerful tale of love and slavery in Barbados – back to the stage.

Finally, their dream is to be realised thanks to Harpenden resident, and artistic director at St Albans’ Trestle Theatre, Emily Gray who was invited to direct the musical by its writer, Carl Miller.

Although the producer of project, Jodie, who grew up on the island of Barbados, is very busy so she has handed the reins over to Emily in conjunction with London Theatre Workshop.

“It has all happened quite quickly,” says the mum of two, who could not wait to get started on the project when she was asked three months ago. “It’s very exciting when a project comes along and you can’t say no to it. Everybody heard the story and a bit of the music and thought ‘I have to do this’.”

The real-life story of Inkle and Yarico was originally recorded by Richard Ligon in his 1657 work A True and Exact History of the Island of Barbados. Yarico, is a native American woman with great dreams and a fierce, independent spirit.

When Inkle, the third son of a British merchant is shipwrecked on her island, he faces certain death at the hands of the islanders. In a courageous act, Yarico intervenes and saves him from his fate, but sadly he betrays her into slavery.

This tragic tale contributed to the social movement against the slave trade which was abolished in 1807 and it captured the imagination of writers and playwrights in the 18th Century, but its impact has been largely forgotten in recent years.

Emily, who has worked at Trestle for the past ten years, says: “It’s a really engaging story. It is entertaining, but at the heart of it is something fairly harrowing – that people can treat others so appallingly and this sense of treating people as things, as commodities.”

The strength of the female lead character was an element Emily, as a member of the first all-woman branch of the Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, was keen to emphasise.

She explains: “What brings it in to the now is that it’s her story. Every other version has had him as the protagonist. Coming at it in the 21st Century you think: ‘Why would we tell his story? It’s all about her’.

“What makes her such an interesting and strong character is that she’s known freedom. She’s then enslaved and works towards liberating those around her as well as herself. She’s a fabulous heroine.”

Another topic tackled in the 44-year-old director’s production is race, and her staging explores this with white actors cast as black slaves and black actors playing white colonialists.

She says: “We have to make it believable and these are the elements that make it relevant for now, even though the dress is of another time.

“We are working together as a group of performers who can turn their hand to anything and tell the story as really cohesive, culturally diverse performers in London in the 21st Century.”

This theme will be further explored in workshops at Trestle, during Black History Month in October.

“As a company we have been looking for an opportunity to do something around race relations and the ethnicities of our masks, and of course Yarico came along and it’s the perfect vehicle.

“We’ll work with different masks and actually consider what is it for a white student to wear a black mask and take on that role and the other way round as well.”

In addition, two gala performances of Yarico will be held to raise money for Trestle Theatre, which was founded in 1981.

But for now, the 11-strong Yarico cast will be realising a much-anticipated dream belonging to John and Jodie.

Emily hopes this production will pave the way for more versions.

“It feels great, it feels like we’re bringing to life something they want to see. There’s always an element of how will we pull this off? But we will.”

London Theatre Workshop, New Kings Road, Fulham, February 17 to March 14, 7.30pm and Saturdays 2.30pm. Details: londontheatreworkshop.co.uk