Review: Noughts and Crosses at The Rep Theatre, Birmingham

★★★★★

Based on Malorie Blackman’s acclaimed novel, Noughts and Crosses, Pilot Theatre in association with Northern Stage presents this adaptation at The Rep Theatre, Birmingham. Depicting an alternate history, Noughts and Crosses is a dramatic tale of love, revolution, and the fraught experience of growing up in a such a divided world.

Flipping the script on the racist power balances of our world, the story is set in the fictional Albion. It centres Sephy (Brianna Douglas), a Cross (from the ruling, rich race) and Callum (Lewis Tidy), a Nought (from the lower, poorer class). The pair were childhood friends, playing together when Callum’s mother worked for Sephy’s mother. As they grow up though, they are faced with the reality that their friendship and then romance is forbidden in this segregated society of racial and social divides.

Written by Sabrina Mahfouz and directed by Esther Richardson, this production of Noughts and Crosses is a great adaptation of Blackman’s work. Staying predominately true to the source material, it is therefore very satisfying viewing for fans of the novel who may leave the theatre wishing that the other novels in this series could be adapted in the same way.

The set design by Simon Kenny takes on a rough, red hue indicative of the violence and rawness of the story. The staging is very minimalist, allowing the acting and storytelling to be the central element of this production. Video Designer (Si Cole) features news clips highlighting the political landscape of the piece bringing increased depth to the storytelling. While Lighting (Ben Cowens), Music & Sound (Arun Ghosh & Xana) and Sound Design (Adam P McCready) are used to bring to life moments of action, war, violence and explosion with shocking vibrancy and energy.

Noughts and Crosses opens with a prologue that sets the scene and offers background into the characters, their pasts and their relationships. The play then jumps straight into the action with Callum becoming one of the first Noughts to enrol at a Cross school. Throughout the production, we are also offered further insights into Sephy and Callum’s inner thoughts, lives and experiences through monologues woven into the main scripting, adding a further layer of personal connection to these characters.

Brianna Douglas and Lewis Tidy are accompanied in this casting by: Melody Adeniran (Minnie/ensemble), Daniel Copeland (Ryan/ensemble), Fintan Hayeck (Jude/ensemble), Chris Jack (Kamal/emsemble), Emma Keele (Meggie/ensemble), and Elexi Walker (Jasmine/ensemble). Clever use of subtle changes in hair, make-up and costuming allows for the seamless distinction between various characters depicted by the same actors. What’s more, it also allows for a distinguishing between a younger Sephy and Callum in the first act to three years later in the second act when the pair are changed by the propaganda, turmoil and trauma they have experienced.

A tale of division, conflict, extremism, and survival, Noughts and Crosses is unfortunately just as relevant now as it was when Malorie Blackman published the first novel in the series in 2001. With increased racism and hostility in Britain, this play serves as an urgent and stark reminder of the harsh realities of division and hate.

A play about oppression and the corruption of power, Noughts and Crosses is intense, dramatic, and impactful. It is a piece of theatre that is vitally uncomfortable.

Noughts and Crosses runs at The Rep, Birmingham until Saturday 28^th March. Tickets are on sale now.

Note: Despite being adapted from a YA novel, and being rated as suitable for 12+, this production does come with a slew of content warnings so please be aware of these before booking.

This review is written following a press invite to the show.