Noughts and Crosses

Published Monday 10 December 2007 at 12:25 by Susan Elkin

Based on a novel which is very popular with teenagers, the RSC’s fine new winter show for over-12s hits straight between the eyes. The all-too familiar political language is chilling, the mob scenes and bullying at school painfully plausible, the grey-lit kidnapping horrifyingly ruthless and the hanging at the end sends a palpable shiver through the audience.

Ony Uhiara as Sephy - the black daughter of a powerful ruling class politician father - combines youthful clear-sightedness with petulance and burgeoning sexuality. Jo Martin makes us feel sorry for Sephy’s alcoholic mother who can still surprise and Freddy White is strong the deeply embittered, damaged Jude. Michelle Butterly is a wonderful tight-lipped - but angry - careworn mother who has to face the loss of her entire family.

But the undoubted star of this show is Richard Madden, whose Callum - Sephy’s white, down-trodden and ultimately rebellious boyfriend - starts as a fresh-faced innocent boy and ends as a tragic hero. His voice work is outstanding and his face extraordinarily expressive. It is an epic performance.

Dominic Cooke uses an almost bare square stage onto which scene follows scene so slickly that sometime the opening words of one episode are eclipsed by the noise of moving off scenery from the previous one - a minor fault which needs sorting. I liked Cooke’s use of mime, slow motion, freeze frames and storytelling by Sephy and Callum within the action, all of which gives the show a thoughtful freshness. The tightness of the drama is sensitively supported by Gary Yershon’s music.