This edition is Sabrina Mahfouz's adaption for stage of Malorie Blackman's much-celebrated novel of the same name, which then became a book series, and has recently been adapted by the BBC for their lavish production.
For the few who don't know the plot, this highly popular start to the trilogy was loosely inspired in part by the doomed love-affair premise of Romeo & Juliet and is set in an alternate racially segregated society.
The dates are not specified, but there are many similarities that suggest it being a parallel world, but here it is the Black characters – the ‘crosses’ – who are viewed by society to be the superior race, holding all the privileges and having all the opportunities afforded to them.
The white characters – or ‘noughts’ – are in the lower class, restricted from the best schools, having poor healthcare, only being allowed to work in manual labour, and subjected to open and unchallenged racism.
In this society, hangings take place, used as both deterrent and punishment against noughts for challenges to the racially imbalanced society, which proves especially significant in the plot…
My students tell me that the play text reduces down some of the richer development of plot and character in the original book; however, this is what most play texts do, due to the stylistic differences of a novel, leaving a lot to interpretation or wider research.
The play retains the same compelling characters and dramatic twists in the plot as the novel, and it makes for an engrossing read. As a performance piece, it is highly successful, provoking much reflection about society and prejudice, and either open or hidden racism.
Each scene starts and ends with a monologue by a protagonist; there are complex scenes with lots of characters, reportage scenes, family scenes and duologue interludes. This mix means it has a huge amount to offer students.
My students loved the novel, and they love this play text. Since introducing it to my school, it's proved the most popular unit and play we study in Drama.