Review: 'Noughts & Crosses' - not just black and white
Theatre adaptation of teen book series explores the impact of racism reversal
Noughts & Crosses is a modern-day Romeo and Juliet story with a huge dollop of racism.
That’s how I would describe the story to those who, like me, have not read Malorie Blackman OBE’s book series of the same name, or watched the subsequent TV series - but have heard the hype surrounding this piece of fiction.
What is compelling about this story is that the status of Black and white people is reversed. Black folks (the Crosses) are the dominant, affluent, powerful group in society, while the white folks (the Noughts) are subjugated, angry and vilified and othered.
And Malorie says that this was a book that she felt she needed to write in response to her personal experiences of racism and the "burning anger” she felt after the murder of Black teenager Stephen Lawrence.
The story
The play follows the story of two young people - Sephy Hadley (Corrina Brown) is a Cross and Callum McGregor (Noah Valentine) is a Nought who initially start out as childhood friends then fall in love.
But their union is frowned upon by family and wider society. The pair struggle to hold on to each other and the purity of their love amidst the turbulence of societal hate, mistrust and racism that envelopes them.
Unlike Romeo and Juliet, there are some notable differences. Although there is tragedy towards the end of the play, there is also hope. Their enduring love for each other - even after the subsequent demise of one of them - suggests the possibility that the next generation could make a change.
My verdict
I loved the outdoor venue. If you’ve never been to Regent’s Park’s Open Air, I would encourage you to go. It was a bit of a trek to get to - mainly because the bridge, which would have speeded up my journey to the venue, was closed. But once I got there, the amphitheatre was impressive and no matter where you sat, it gave you a good view of the play and the celebrities in the audience.
The set and the staging were magnificent. The story is set against a brutalist, angular and seemingly rusting structure with silver and brown tones that matched the monochrome clothing of much of the cast.
I loved the way the outdoor space communicated seamlessly with the show. There was one point when a bird flew past (obviously not part of the play). Sephy followed its flight till it disappeared from sight as if the bird’s appearance was part of the production. And in that moment, I felt like I was not just watching the play but sharing the same moment with Sephy in the scene.
It was also nice to see such a healthy representation of Black actors, including London-born actor Habib Nasib Nader, whose parents are Ghanaian. And did I say the acting was good? It was.
I particularly liked Chanel Waddock, who played Callum’s sister Lynette. I saw her in Othello at the Lyric Hammersmith some years ago, where she played Desdemona, and like that troubled character, I thought Chanel channelled the character of Lynette superbly.
Her skittish mental health state and her initially unflinching belief that she was somehow a Cross (Black) when she was actually a Nought (white) reminded me of Rachel Dolezal.
Rachel famously misled the world into believing that she was of African American heritage when she is actually white. Her parents are of primarily of German, Czech, and Swedish origin.
I would have liked to have seen that thread of the story explored more because as most of us know, believing in ‘races’ is illogical. Afterall, it is a societal construct that is used to control and subjugate others.
We see these efforts to flip the roles played out in some witty references within the play such as ‘Crossmas’ for Christmas’; ‘whitemail’ instead of ‘blackmailed’, and one of my favourites, the brown plaster/Band-Aid that Elle Davies, who plays Shania, wears after being hurt in one of the scenes.
When Sephy asks her why the plaster is brown, Shania points out that there are none manufactured to reflect her white skin tone.
Brown plasters
Around 2019, some of you may remember the news story announcing that retailers would start stocking brown skin tones plasters to meet the need in Black communities in the UK. It was nice to see this reflected in the play.
Other messages that codified racism included Sephy’s father’s address to the nation. Kamal Hadley (played by Habib Nasib Nader), is the deputy prime minister, who said: “Ladies, gentlemen and Noughts…..”, emphasising their diminished societal hierarchy in one single statement.
There are also the slurs - the Noughts are called ‘blankers', which is probably the N-word equivalent, while the Crosses are called ‘daggers’.
Role reversal
While I applaud what this production set out to achieve - shining a light on the absurdity of judging people according to the colour of their skin, I also struggled to connect with this attempt to reverse the roles.
This may be because I had not read the original story or was not the target audience.
Malorie’s book series is geared toward teenagers, which came through in this theatre adaptation, directed by Tinuke Craig. But I also felt that this was a story for a white audience (or those that do not experience racism) to help them better understand the insidious impact that racism has on individuals and society.
(When I was leaving the venue, I overheard an audience member - a Black man - make a similar observation: “who was this play meant for'“, he asked his friend).
The play suggests that if the roles were reversed, Black people would behave in the same way that white people have historically treated melanated folk. But would they?
It felt like the experience of the Noughts and the Crosses lacked context. Why were the Crosses in charge? Why did it seem that the Noughts’ only response to oppression met with violence? Was this an observation at how Black people are perceived to behave when they are met with oppression?
While I am not negative that we Black folks often feel rage when we experience racism, the system finds ways to contain that right to be angry. But we also respond in other ways. What we typically find amongst many oppressed communities is this reliance on histories that existed before their cultures were oppressed. These histories are important anchors for self empowerment and a form of healing.
We see that evidenced in Fuse ODG’s latest song Sundiata featuring Suli Breaks and recent efforts to remind the world that Black people have a history that extends further than just slavery.
But, for me, it felt like that was missing in this portrayal of the Noughts.
The focus with the McGregor family, particularly with the elder son Jude was pure retaliation fuelled by anger.
And we watch as he descends into violence and hate when he joins the Liberation Militia (LM) - the LM which maybe unintentionally shares the same two letters as BLM - (the Black Lives Matter movement).
The play required me to constantly remember that what I was seeing was subjugation in reverse and as a result, I had to reverse the roles of the characters (making Sephy and her family white and not Black) and Callum and his family (Black and not white) for the story to make sense to me.
I am sure that was not the intention of the writer or the writers behind the theatre adaptation and may say more about how society has conditioned me than anything else.
A friend, who has read the book, told me that what he liked about the literary version was the constant switching between the viewpoints of Sephy and Callum. And it’s made me wonder if that process of moving between the perspectives of both characters would have enhanced my viewer experience. One thing I am certain about since watching this production is that it’s fuelled my desire to read both the book and watch the series.
Let me know if you’ve watched this production and what you thought of it.
Noughts & Crosses continues at Regents Park Open Air until 26 July.
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