Noah Valentine (Callum) and Corinna Brown (Sephy) in Noughts & Crosses. Credit Manuel Harlan.Essentially, this is a loose retelling of Romeo and Juliet set in a 21st century alternative Britain, in which the Noughts are poor disadvantaged white folks and the Crosses are the all-powerful and wealthy black folks. It’s a neat premise which requires considerable thinking to embed when read off the page, but when presented in such a charged and visually arresting setting — thanks to the effectiveness of Colin Richmond’s drab, pseudo industrial backdrop — the story assumes a vibrant energy all its own.
Persephone (Corinna Brown) who is known to everyone save her mother as Sephy, has been childhood friends with a Nought named Callum (Noah Valentine) whose mother Meggie (Kate Kordel) used to clean for Sephy’s parents Jasmine (Amanda Bright) and Kamal (Habib Nasib Nader) who just happens to be Deputy Prime Minister of Albion, part of the wider Pangaean Economic Community. The downtrodden Nought (white) population, is mobilising through a liberation movement to press for equal rights and opportunities. Elite schools previously reserved for Crosses (blacks) have begun taking small quotas of Nought scholarship students, and in a nod to the civil rights movement (specifically the Little Rock Nine incidents of 1957) riots and unrest quickly ensue.
As Sephy and Callum become ever closer but have to hide their affection at school, they form tentative plans to run away together. Events and society conspire to keep them apart leading to various tragedies including a shopping centre bombing, clampdowns, executions and suicide. For all that this list of misery sounds morose, the drama unfolds in neatly packaged chapters with sufficient humour, charm, variety, pace and choreographed movement across the sprawling playing area, to thoroughly engage the audience.
Make no mistake, any attempt to distil such a sprawling epic into a stage play with a running time of 2 hours 50 mins (including the 20 min interval) is no mean feat, but hats off to the creative team who have conjured a substantial piece of thought-provoking, dystopian social commentary, whilst still managing to engage and entertain.
Further cast members who appear in the production:
Alec Boaden (Jude), Halle Brown (Lola & Juno), Michael Cusick (Mr Stanhope & Peter), Elle Davies (Shania & Leila), Eddie Elliott (Mr Corsa, Collins & Jack), Emma Jane Goodwin (Sarah Pike), Jessica Layde (Minerva), Wela Mbusi (Mr Pingule & Governor), Yolanda Ovide (Dionne & Clerk), Helena Pipe (Reporter, Kelanie & Joannie), Richard Riddell (Ryan), Ben Skym (Colin & Morgan) and Chanel Waddock (Lynette).
