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GCSE DRAMA OCR: Written Paper Section BNoughts and Crosses

Characters Plot Line Themes Explored

Crosses (Daggers)The Hadleys:Persephone (Sephy)Minerva (Minnie) Big SisterKamal Father (politician)Jasmine Mother (alcoholic)

Noughts (Blankers)The McGregors:CallumJude Big Brother (radical)Lynette Sister (attack victim)Ryan FatherMeggie Mother

The play is set in another universe – one where White people are the underclass and Black people rule and have power. It has always been this way. The noughts can only afford milk once a week whereas the crosses drink orange juice every day.Meggie works for Jasmine and as a servant, but they have a close relationship as they have children of a similar age and they are allowed to grow up and play together. Jasmine is an alcoholic and she asks Meggie to lie for her, but Meggie won’t and she is fired because of this. This triggers a spiral of events for both families.

Callum is allowed to go to the same school as Persephone, he is the first Nought to be allowed at a Cross school. Persephone tries to defend Callum on the first day but ends up using the word “blankers” which is a racist term for Nought/White people. Callum and Persephone fall out over this and Callum’s big brother tries to get Callum to join a radical group called the Liberation Militia (LM). He doesn’t but his brother does.

Jude sets a bomb in a shopping centre and Callum saves Sephy just in time, but is accused of knowing about the bomb. His father Ryan, takes the blame and is almost hanged for it but Persephone’s father saves him as a political stunt. Ryan later dies, apparently trying to escape prison.

Persephone leaves for boarding school. Callum joins the radical group with his brother and they go on the run. Years later when Persephone returns – she is kidnapped by Callum and Jude and held as a ransom for her father to make a change to the law.

Persephone and Callum sleep together and then she escapes. When her family find out she is pregnant, Callum is accused of rape and sentenced to death. Persephone gives birth to the first mixed race baby – Callie Rose. (Callie for Callum and Rose for the place where they met in the garden)

Rich and Poor Race Segregation

Forbidden Love Family

Propaganda Fake News

Power Terrorism


Set and SceneryBackdrop Desks Hanging and Prison scenes Set The play opened with two heavy black doors facing the audience. (Like a book – as this play is based on a novel)

These were then opened by the characters to reveal a distressed red and black set made flat squares. Looked like a noughts and crosses grid. (The idea of boxes – people being trapped in roles, lines in between are laws that keep them there). The squares were sometimes cupboards and could open and contained props. Some could be pulled out to form seats and steps.

Lynette’s RoomThis was a section of the set where a gauze was used. When light shone on it from the front it was a normal square. When light shone through from the back (backlit) you could see a room inside. A small square room symbolic of a prison – as Lynette was trapped in her mind and they were trying to keep her safe in her room. When she escapes that safe space she kills herself.

Heavy desks were used on stage to form different landscapes. They were used symbolically and naturalistically to form the following locations:

Stepping stones – Sephy’s journey

Breakfast tables Café School Court scene Explosion School toilets

The cast said at the after show talk that they were really heavy and they’d had to train to lift them.

Some of them contained light boxes so in some scenes they were lit up white and some tables black – so it looked like a chequers board (which is symbolic of a game of noughts and crosses).Television screensProjected onto back wall – set political/propaganda feel. Also made it feel like being watched - Dystopian

The Hangman’s noose was suspended over the top of stage above the set, with a platform. It was used twice. Once in Ryan’s hanging that was reprived at the last minute and for Callum’s death at the end of the play.

When Callum died, we didn’t see the fall – just a blackout and the door around the noose was lit brightly so we couldn’t see them run offstage.

It’s at the top of the set to signify the importance of how Power and Politics play the part in innocent people’s death. Both Ryan and Callum are innocent of their crimes, but their hangings are used for Political gain by Kamal (Persephone’s Father).

The other prison scenes contain a bed and a visiting room.The bed is spun to show time passing and Callum’s nightmare before his hanging. The visiting room is bare and soulless as Meggie and Callum say goodbye to Ryan.

Cuckoo Café – Callum doesn’t belong there – like a cuckoo.


CostumeCostumes were changed on stage in front of audience and we were asked to believe they were a different person. – Brechtian.Sometimes the costumes weren’t different enough – we thought the militia man was Ryan’s Dad. He was a different character.

Crosses Noughts Politicians Radical School UniformLots of bright colours to show wealth.Wore lots of Blue – shows togetherness/peace.Kamal = dark suit to represent corrupt politician.Persephone – started to change from blue to mauve/purple to show she’s half way between red and blue.

Wore cheaper clothes to show lower class. Lots of grey.In prison they had red jump suits to show they were dangerous/killers etc. (Red = communism)

Suits – smartPolished for the news reports.

How can someone who looks nice be bad?

Went from normal clothes to a make-shift uniform. Callum was wearing heavy boots – like he’d been on missions with the group.

TiesBlazers

Judge Hangman Liberation Militia Police Purple ClothWig and suit Black hood and all black

clothing – never saw his face.

In black to show dark force – dark hats and sometimes balaclavas to disguise themselves.

Riot masks and shields Wrapped the new baby in a purple cloth to show ‘Blue and Red’ had mixed.


STYLE: Brecht/Brechtian1. Opened the big doors at the start – like a storybook. We know it’s a play all along. Opening the book asks the audience to suspend our disbelief.

2. Started and ended with a baby – cyclical structure. Baby symbolic of hope that something will change.3. But it doesn’t in Callum’s lifetime.

4. Narrative theatre – news reports, monologues, letters, diary entries, voice-over, echoes of past scenes (sister’s advice during fight scene) and role -play tell the story from different angles.

5. Character archetypes used: Corrupt politician. Dangerous Rebel. Young Lovers (we sympathise with them). Biased Judge

6. Epic story – told across many years and dealing with big issues.

7. Cast moved the set themselves. Created different scenery with different formations of tables and chairs. Stood still for news.

8. Cross cutting – actors stood within each other’s scenes and one scene froze while the other played out. Works as comparison of lives/opinions.

Physical Theatre1. Ensemble piece so they multi-roled to help set the scene. Used all the cast most of the time as chorus creating atmosphere.

2. Anxiety breathing scene – Callum had panic attack and all cast breathed with him. Breathed as one. (Artaud)

3. Fight in school toilets – anxiety music used in background emphasise hatred.

4. Explosion – chairs and tables all moved in slow motion and then changed pace to show destruction.

5. Stepping stone tables – tables lit up from inside and made a checkboard (noughts and crosses) to show Sephy making decisions on a journey. At the end she falls backwards into the ensemble’s arms showing she falls and she loses control. (symbols/semiotics)

6. Rebels thumped chest (Jude repeated this) – proves his heart is in the rebel’s cause – will fight to the death for them.


LightingColours Techniques Gauze Squares/SpotlightsUsed a blue wash to show peaceful atmosphere – Callum and Sephy’s safe space

Gloomy Green lights were used to create a dark forest scene when Sephy was running from kidnappers.

Strobe light – used during bombing scene to make the physical theatre look more like a slow motion explosion. Used at different speeds – sped up to normal by end of explosion.We could see flashes of death and escape.

Blackout – used during hanging. Door around the hanging space lit up brightly and the other lights killed so we didn’t see the actor walk off stage.

Flickering lights that went across the actors faces when news reports were being given. Shows they are under the ‘news’ spell and they have no control over the propaganda.

Lynette’s RoomThis was a section of the set where a gauze was used. When light shone on it from the front it was a normal square. When light shone through from the back (backlit) you could see a room inside. A small square room symbolic of a prison – as Lynette was trapped in her mind and they were trying to keep her safe in her room. When she escapes that safe space she kills herself.

During some scenes – squares of light (instead of spotlights) were projected onto the stage floor - used for monologues and to show characters felt isolated.Both Callum and Sephy do a monologue in a square of light.

The square shape is symbolic of noughts and crosses game. And that each character should keep to their set square – noughts and crosses can’t mix.

Normal spotlights were used during Kamal’s speeches to show he doesn’t trapped because he has power.


SoundNews Reports Violence scenes Garden/Forest/Beach Bomb explosion

Reports projected onto back wall to represent real news – they had a proper new reader tone to the reports. They sometimes mixed these with live or recorded interviews of the characters on stage. It gave a sense that the government were controlling what and how people heard about certain events. The reports were biased against noughts – so although we knew what had happened as an audience we could see how the repeated bias would slowly change society’s view. (If someone says it enough times – someone will believe it)

Fight in the bathroom scene. There is sound of the girls laughter and also a voice-over of her big sister’s (Minnie’s) advice as she is beaten up. The actors make noises as they hit Sephy and she reacts with cries and groans. They leave her wimpering on the floor. The scene has an echo effect on the microphones so it sounds like a school bathroom. This also amplifies the violence.

These are Callum and Sephy’s safe/rescue spaces.

Garden is silent and this allows for them to whisper around the rose bush and tell their secrets.

Beach has wave sfx and seagull sfx to help set the scene and give a sense of peace and hope for Callum and Sephy.When they argue at the beach the sea sound effect is more stormy and then it calms down when they make up – symbolises their relationship going through a stormy patch.

Forest – Sephy running away. But she takes a minute to stop and enjoy the fact that Callum loves her. There is silence and then there are LM voices chasing her.

This is created slowly – beginning with silence and then when the physical explosion has happened there is a bang and then this is followed quickly by people shouting for help, sirens and news reports. The combination of the noises show the chaos the bomb has called. The death toll is the last thing we hear and we know this will effect all the characters on the stage.

· Web viewThese were then opened by the characters to reveal a distressed red and black set made...

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