Os & Xs

Noughts and Crosses

Noughts and Crosses

“I wanted to turn society as we know it on its head.” Malorie Blackman 

 An audience on three sides of the stage instead of one. The cast moving props and banging down scenery instead of scurrying stage-hands. Even the staging of Noughts and Crosses asked the audience to ask questions, and the 5th Form were moved, provoked and pushed into thinking about the plight of Sephy and Callum, a girl and boy growing up on either side of the clichéd tracks.

This was a new take, however, turning an old story upside down, just as the author intended. In a story that touched on love, hate, truth and racism, the RSC staged a thought-provoking adaptation of Blackman’s trilogy at the Civic Hall in Stratford-Upon-Avon, appropriate for a story that draws comparison with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Even the quick scene changes by subservient looking “blankers” served to stimulate questions in the minds of the audience. 

The 5th form enjoyed the play and were moved by the plight of the “star-crossed lovers” at the centre of the story. Malorie Blackman can expect improved sales of her novels from pupils at Bilton as a result of the trip!