By Malorie Blackman, Adapted by Sabrina Mahfouz, Directed by Esther Richardson.

Presented by Mercury Theatre Colchester and Pilot Theatre. Co-produced by Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Derby Theatre and York Theatre Royal.

“Why love, if losing hurts so much?”

Sephy and Callum sit together on a beach. They are in love.

It is forbidden.

Sephy is a Cross and Callum is a Nought. Between Noughts and Crosses there are racial and social divides. 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.

This gripping Romeo andJuliet story by acclaimed writer Malorie Blackman and adapted by Sabrina Mahfouz is a captivating drama of love, revolution and what it means to grow up in a divided world.

Noughts and Crosses follows Pilot Theatre’s acclaimed production of Brighton Rock

★★★★ The Observer

★★★★ The Times

★★★★ The Stage

Young Essex

Click here for an overview of all Essex Book Festival’s Young Essex events across the county this March.