Doreene Blackstock, Jack Condon, Daniel Copeland, Lisa Howard, Chris Jack, Kimisha Lewis Join NOUGHTS AND CROSSES

Pilot Theatre, in co-production with Derby Theatre, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Mercury Theatre, Colchester and York Theatre Royal announce full casting for the premiere of Sabrina Mahfouz'snew adaptation of Malorie Blackman's critically acclaimed young adult novel of first love in a dangerous fictional dystopia - Noughts & Crosses.

As previously announced Noughts & Crosses' exciting cast will be led by Heather Agyepong and Billy Harris playing the roles of Sephy and Callum. Heather Agyepong's theatre credits include Girls (Talawa Theatre, High Tide & Martha Rose Wilson Productions); So Many Reasons (Fuel Theatre & Ovalhouse Theatre) and Sankara (Next Up Talent; National Theatre Studio). Heather is an acclaimed visual artist, actor and maker. Earlier this year she was nominated for the 2018 South Bank Sky Arts Breakthrough Award. Billy Harris' theatre credits include Boots On The Ground (Tangled Feet) and 13 (Tobacco Factory Theatre).

Joining Heather and Billy will be Doreene Blackstock (Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare's Globe; Cymbeline and Hamlet, RSC ) as Jasmine; Jack Condon (East, King's Head Theatre and Last Man Standing, Theatre N16) as Jude, Daniel Copeland ( Invincible, Orange Tree Theatre and The Jungle Book, Leeds Playhouse) as Ryan; Lisa Howard (They Don't Pay? We Won't Pay, Northern Broadsides andFlood, Slung Low and Hull City of Culture 2017) as Meggie; Chris Jack (Brighton Rock, Pilot Theatre and York Theatre Royal and Our Town, Royal Exchange Manchester) as Kamal and Kimisha Lewis (Last Dream (on earth), National Theatre of Scotland and Send: A game of textual tennis, Lyric Hammersmith) as Minerva. All actors will also play ensemble roles.

Told from the perspectives of the two teenagers, Noughts & Crosses is a captivating love story set in a volatile, racially segregated society and explores the powerful themes of love, revolution and what it means to grow up in a divided world.

Sabrina Mahfouz's new adaptation is based on Malorie Blackman's first book in the Noughts & Crosses series for young adults, which has won the Red House Children's Book Award and the Fantastic Fiction Award among other accolades. A BBC adaptation of Noughts & Crosses is due to be screened in 2019 and the fifth novel in the Noughts & Crosses sequence, Crossfire, will be published by Penguin Random House Children's in summer 2019.

Directed by Pilot Theatre's Artistic Director Esther Richardson (Brighton Rock) and designed by Simon Kenny (Sweeney Todd, Barrow Street Theatre and off-Broadway; Holes, Nottingham Playhouse and Black Man Walking, eclipse/Royal Exchange Manchester), Noughts & Crosses will be the first co-production between Pilot Theatre, Derby Theatre, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Mercury Theatre, Colchester and York Theatre Royal who have recently formed a new partnership to develop theatre for younger audiences. The companies will commission and co-produce an original mid-scale production each year from 2019-2022, which will play in all the consortium venues as well as touring nationally.

Noughts & Crosses will open at Derby Theatre from the 1-16 February 2019 and will then embark on a tour to Theatr Clwyd, Mold; The Lowry, Salford; Mercury Theatre Colchester; Bristol Old Vic; Brighton Theatre Royal; Belgrade Theatre Coventry; York Theatre Royal; Theatre Royal Stratford East and Northern Stage.

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