Lesson 1 - Task 2:

Research:

I have done a lot of research on Noughts and Crosses. I have always been a fan of the book as I read it in year 8 so when I found out that we were doing the script in school I was really exited to work with a Malorie Blackman inspired piece of theatre. And because I was already interested it made it easier for me to do my research as I wanted to know more about the play (both for historical and a character developing point of view).

 To read about the book, play and some themes visit the website below:
https://www.rsc.org.uk/downloads/rsc_noughts_info_pack.pdf

Themes of the Play:

Violence: From brotherly fist fights to Sephy being beaten up in school to the bomb being used as a force of violence in the Dundale shopping Centre.

Divided Society: The blacks (Noughts) and the whites (crosses). The idea of segregation and inferiority.

Racism: Daggers and blankers being used as a form of identity (in a racist term).

Discrimination: Used throughout the script (is brought up more in the book though). Highlights what the black people thought of the whites and is used in the scene where the noughts sit on separate tables for lunch at Heathcroft school.

Courage: When Ryan covers for Jude, it really shows that he has courage because he knows that he is risking his life however he is willing to take that risk in order to keep his son safe (I think 'unconditional love' could also be a main theme however I think it kind of goes unnoticed as most people focus on the literal things and forget that most of the actions that take place throughout the play are due to a form of unconditional love). I think Callie Rose is a symbol of hope and her parents, Callum and Sephy, are very courageous in the duration of the script as they go through trust problems (i.e. when Callum finds the courage to meet up with Sephy on the beach, risking his life, however later on he wonders if she set him up as there were guards waiting there to capture him, whereas at the beginning of the play he would not have questioned her trust. Then after Callum has been captured, he sacrifices his life in order to protect the one spark of hope that there is in the book, his beautiful daughter Callie Rose).

Betrayal: There is the overall betrayal of humans disregarding other humans of the exact same species due to skin colour, but then there is also the more literal betrayal in the play such as Callum using trickery to lure Sephy to meet him on the beach (where he then captures her and keeps her prisoner).

Friendship: Sephy and Callum share a relationship like no other. It is so strong and pure (well at the beginning anyway) that it seems like no one could intervene with their mind sets of being together forever.

I found this video and it reminded me of  'Noughts and Crosses', it also helped me to understand how some of the noughts may have felt when first starting at Heathcroft. To be honest the video was kind of a shock to me as I was not expecting the discrimination to be quite as bad as it appeared. I didn't realise that blacks and whites could not even share some water fountains etc. the thought of humanity once being like that makes me sick and I am disappointed at what the world once consisted of:

Article extract shows just how cruel some of the students were:

Poem of Little Rock nine in the link below:

http://www.powerpoetry.org/poems/brave-students-little-rock-nine

Inspiring quotes from the nine children:

http://www.africanafrican.com/folder12/african%20african%20american3/africa%20history/Integration%20of%20Little%20Rock%20High%20School%20-%20quotes%20and%20questions.pdf

A famous historical song (one of the first) that talks about racism in an abstract way:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZyuULy9zs
“Strange Fruit” has been called the original protest song. It is simple, spare but effective poetry. At a time when political protest was not often expressed in musical form, the song depicted lynching in all of its brutality. The three short verses are all the more powerful for their understated and ironic language. The juxtaposition of a beautiful landscape with the scene of lynching, the smell of magnolias with that of burning flesh, the blossoms more typically associated with the Southern climate with the “strange fruit” produced by racial oppression—this imagery conjures up the essence of racist reaction. Racism in America stands indicted and exposed by these lines, with no need at all for a more didactic or agitational message.

I have done this research because it is important to know the world of the play so that I as an actor can truly connect to my character and get a better understanding of how life and the world around my character is.