Southampton date for Malorie Blackman’s acclaimed Noughts and Crosses

Noughts and Crosses will be touring to the Mayflower Studios, Southampton from Wednesday-Saturday, May 6-9.

Sephy is a Cross and Callum is a Nought. Between Noughts and Crosses there are racial and social divides as a segregated society teeters on a volatile knife edge. As violence breaks out, Sephy and Callum draw closer, but this is a romance that will lead them into terrible danger.

Told from the perspectives of two teenagers, Noughts & Crosses explores the themes of love, revolution and what it means to grow up in a divided world.

Director Esther Richardson said: “Noughts and Crosses has struck a real chord with audiences around the country and it is a great privilege to be working again on this enduring drama. The story cuts to the heart of why we must hold sacred and cherish our common humanity and be most wary of those who seek to divide us. It’s so exciting and humbling to have the most extraordinarily talented group of actors and creatives join us for this revival. We can’t wait to get started.”

Sabrina Mahfouz’s adaptation is based on Malorie Blackman’s first book in the Noughts & Crosses series for young adults which won the Red House Children’s Book Award and the Fantastic Fiction Award among other accolades.

A BBC adaptation of Noughts & Crosses was broadcast in 2019 with the second series airing in 2022 on BBC One and iPlayer. The fifth novel in the Noughts & Crosses sequence, Crossfire, was published by Penguin Random House in summer 2019.

Malorie Blackman has written more than 60 books for children and young adults, including the Noughts & Crosses series, Thief and most recently her science fiction thriller Chasing the Stars. Her work has also been adapted for TV with the six-part adaptation of Pig-Heart Boy winning a BAFTA and two series of Noughts & Crosses. In 2005, Malorie was honoured with the Eleanor Farjeon Award in recognition of her contribution to the world of children’s books, in 2008 she received an OBE for her services to children’s literature and, between 2013 and 2015, she was the Children’s Laureate. Malorie has also recently written for Doctor Who on BBC One.

Sabrina Mahfouz is a British Egyptian poet, playwright, performer, writer and producer. Her recent plays have included the Danny Boyle directed Free your Mind (Manchester International Festival), A History of Water in the Middle East (Royal Court); Offside (co-written with Hollie McNish); With a little bit of luck (Paines Plough) and published work includes poetry, plays and contributions to several anthologies. She has most recently been a writer and producer on Netflix's upcoming Will Ferrell and Ramy Youssef comedy series Golf and a writer/producer on season two of the Emmy award winning Beef for A24/Netflix.