Overview

• The 2025 stage adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s novel is midway through its summer run at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre until July 26
• Tinuke Craig’s direction features a scorched-bronze brutalist set, copper lighting, ladders and an ensemble serving as a Greek chorus or Orwellian thought police
• Noah Valentine draws praise for his restrained sincerity as Callum while Corinna Brown earns acclaim for her energetic conviction as Sephy, despite limited character depth
• Critics fault Dominic Cooke’s faithful but choppy script for rushing through key emotional moments and spelling out themes in heavy-handed exposition
• More than two decades after its debut, Blackman’s inverted exploration of racial hierarchies continues to resonate as a mirror on systemic injustice and forbidden love