THEATRE REVIEW: Noughts and Crosses, Liverpool Playhouse

Feb 27 2008 by Peter Grant, Liverpool Daily Post

Ony Uhiara as Sephy and Richard Madden as Callum in RSC's production of Noughts and Crosses _320

MALORIE BLACKMAN’S novel plays with people’s perceptions of society with this tale of Noughts (the underclass) and the Crosses (the majority ruling society).

It is a vibrant new take on Romeo and Juliet with race and racism stamped throughout this very tender love story.

A gripping tale of Callum and Sephy’s forbidden relationship.

Yet it could be about black or white skin; Basque terrorists, or Northern Ireland.

The outcome is certainly one of the most powerful and remarkable pieces of theatre you will see in a long time.

A wide-aged group, sell-out first night audience would certainly agree.

It’s a gripping political analogy focusing on the divisions between two groups: Blankers and Daggers – hints of a sinister Clockwork Orange world.

Sephy is black and Callum is white, but colour is never mentioned, such is the richness and dexterity of the writing and slick adaptation.

This young persons’ book, written in 2001, is brought to life by the RSC with a cast of sixteen. Directed and adapted by Dominic Cooke, and aided by Kandis Cooks’s truly exquisite design, it is a faultless production.

An arched canvas backdrop allows silhouetted scenes to come alive while the sparse stage sees sets wheeled and slammed on and off in allegorical anger, including dining tables, classroom chairs, bedrooms and prisons.

Ony Uhiara as Sephy and Richard Madden as Callum are exceptional as the lovers who make all the wrong decisions.

Their lives interweave from the uneasy segregation at school to ultimately being victims of the violent Liberation Militia.

Scenes such as a shopping mall bomb blast; a jail riot and two hanging sequences are beautifully choreographed.

It would be impossible to leave the theatre unmoved by this first class ensemble piece, topped by two very bright young stars.