Peter Viney's Blog

By Malorie Blackman
Adapted by Sabrina Mahfouz

Pilot Theatre production

Directed by Esther Richardson
Designed by Simon Kenny
Lighting design by Ben Cowans

On tour, Poole Lighthouse
Tuesday 21 March, 19.45

CAST

Effie Ansah- Sephy
James Arden – Callum
Amie Buhari – Jasmine (Sephy’s mum) /ensemble
Tom Coleman – Andrew Dorn /ensemble
Daniel Copeland – Ryan (Callum’s dad) / ensemble
Abiola Efunshile- Minerva(Sephy’s sister), Kelani Adams(lawyer) / ensemble
Ebony Feare- Dionee, policewoman, judge / ensemble
Emma Keele- Meggie (Callum’s mum) / ensemble
Nathaniel McClosky – Jude (Callum’s Brother) / ensemble
Daniel Norford – Kamal (Sephy’s dad, and Home Secretary) / ensemble

AVOIDING PLOT SPOILERS …

I haven’t read the book, nor seen the TV series. There was also an earlier stage adaptation at the RSC. It’s enduringly popular as a story, though it’s fair to say it’s a teen novel.

They were on a winner from us before they started. They had decorated the foyer with red and black cloth and it was a large audience, with teenage girls in an obvious majority. I’d rather be the oldest in the audience, rather than as so often at Bath or Chichester in the average age range. They’re right at the end of a long tour which started in York in September 2022 and ends in Leicester next week. Unusually (and at last) Poole Lighthouse are running it for a full week. It’s also a bargain priced ticket to attract younger audiences. Respect!

The base story is set in a dystopian world divided between the ruling Crosses (black) and the servant underclass Noughts (white). The N-word in the society is ‘Blankers!’ meaning noughts. Then the noughts call the crosses ‘Daggers.’ Think USA 1960, with enforced segregation, and the first black kids (here white) being put into de-segregated schools. There’s an added element in the school scenes because the three noughts are meek and male, and the three crosses are bullying and female. So gender comes in next to race. I also noted that the posh school uniforms had black shirts with ties in opposition to the normal white shirts with ties. Colour reversal follows through.

There’s an obvious Romeo (Callum) and Juliet (Sephy) reference, but in the sub-genre of poor boy / rich girl. They’ve known each other all their lives. The play begins with Sephy’s birth, and Meggie, a servant, says her son Callum will be able to play with her. The action moves at once to Sephy at age fourteen. Very Juliet. The Noughts become politicized, and then become terrorists.

I’ll take mild exception to the programme note where Esther Richardson says the project ‘has enabled us to work with some of the leading Black and global majority artists in the UK theatre.’

So what’s ‘global majority’? Does she mean non-white? So why does she say ‘Black (capital) and global majority’? Because in race terms, East Asians (e.g. Chinese) and South Asians (e.g. Indians) are easily the ‘global majority’ and would not identify themselves as black. My Chinese friends would not identify as ‘non-white’ either. There are no East Asians or South Asians on the stage. So it’s a daft term. It’s a rare play which simply cannot use colour-blind casting. Because of the plot, and the fear of a baby of mixed race, it even means that none of the Afro-Caribbean cast members can be mixed race / light-skinned either.

The stage direction, the set and the lighting are all five star. The lighting in particular deserves credit. There are square red semi-transparent panels forming the set, but the interstices have LED light strips which can be invisible, or used to delineate areas, or for sudden bright effects. There are also footlights across the stage, not a given nowadays. The lighting throughout is stellar.

On acting, James Arden as Callum is definitely ‘a star is born’ appearance. We will see a lot more of him. Outstanding. There are strong performances all round, but I will criticize the balance in projection.Three of the women, Sephy, Jasmine and Minerva are way quieter and softer than the rest of the cast. If everybody was at the same softer level, fine, but Kamal, Ryan, Jude, Meggie, Callum are all projecting powerfully, so there is a definite imbalance in volume. I’m amazed at six months into the tour no one has worked on that. On sound, the production uses a lot of TV projection (what doesn’t the last two years?) on multiple screens on the panels to show news programmes, often with SFX over. I thought they were important features and mainly too quiet.

The play? In the interval two teen girls behind us coming out were admitting they had been brought to tears. That’s what it’s supposed to do. It’s a production at full West End / subsidized theatre quality, and you don’t see much of that in Poole. The second half is designed to play straight to teenage girls emotionally, as was the novel.

I’m going to use the word Brechtian, possibly for the first time since university drama essays. No, nobody burst into song, and costumes are excellent rather than plain, but it ticks a few boxes:

• It’s a non-realistic and largely bare set with minimal props (tables, chairs, a bed).
• The two main characters break the fourth wall and narrate directly to the audience.
• While doing these, they make points about life the universe and everything.
• The story is didactic, with a capital D. The metaphor is blindingly obvious. (That’s the novel)
• It’s political.
• The rest of the cast, at times form tableaux surrounding the action.
• The ensemble switch at speed between many minor roles.
• Very short scenes flow rapidly from one to another.
• People carry placards.
• There is no leavening of humour.

I know Brecht thought heavily stressed irony was humour, but it isn’t. I only saw one genuinely funny line, which is when one of the bullied white schoolboys has a brown plaster on his face wound and wonders why no one makes plasters in his skin colour.

The first part ran to nearly 90 minutes, I’d say ten minutes too long as quite a bit is repetitive. The second part was 45 minutes. I prefer a longer first part, but as with volume, I’m not sure about balance at double the length. However, the break has to come there because three years have passed.

It plays perfectly to the audience and for many it will be a novel major piece of theatrical work, and the theme plays strongly in 2023. The production has awards aplenty. If you’re in Poole this week, or can get to Leicester next week, see it.

****

A FOOTNOTE:

We were at the theatre 45 minutes before the start (which is why the foyer is so sparsely populated in the photo), because we wanted to see the art exhibition in the gallery (East End Artists) which I’d seen but Karen hadn’t. The Art Gallery was closed for the “VIP Reception” for the first night in Poole. That meant a dozen people arriving in the theatre one minute before the start with large glasses of wine … I hate wine and beer in theatres as I so often say … then taking their seats on the aisle. Realistically, the Evening Echo is the only reviewer likely to effect ticket sales. I will point out that the largesse to VIPs might be wasted money, because at least four failed to reappear after the interval.