About This Event
When Sam wakes up, he fully believes that today will just be another ordinary day – but that’s before Mr Mackie tells Class 8M to write a poem about someone they care about. Unexpectedly, Sam volunteers to write about Davey… Davey was Sam’s friend – not that Sam wanted anyone to know that. While the cool girls in the class thought Davey was ‘well cute in a sad dog sort of way’, the tough boys – Morgan and his crew – just saw Davey as different. Davey liked to dance. Davey liked to look at the clouds and see the shapes they made. Davey liked looking at the world in a different way to everybody else. But no matter how much Sam liked being with Davey, he always denied their friendship. Then one day, the bullying goes a step too far… but will Sam step in to help his friend? It’s not the ordinary day Sam thought it was going to be.
Age Guidance: 13+
Content Guidance: Themes of bullying throughout, on-stage violence, references to anxiety and poverty and one sexual reference
Helen Blakeman
is an award-winning writer for stage and screen, winning the George Devine Award for her debut play
Caravan
and a BAFTA award for her BBC adaptation of Jacqueline Wilson’s
Dustbin Baby
, which also won an International Emmy Award.
Helen has written for long-running TV series such as
Hollyoaks
and
Call the Midwife
but is best known for her original and controversial Channel 4 film
Pleasureland
, and the children’s series
Hetty Feather
.
For film, Helen is the screenwriter of
Lucy Lost
, an adaptation of the Michael Morpurgo novel
Listen to the Moon
, for Xilam Animation, Paris and
Maria
, an adaptation of a Ukrainian novel for E.D. Films Canada and Animagrad Animation, Kyiv.
Helen is also the former Chair of the BAFTA Children’s Committee and trustee of the Everyman & Playhouse Theatres, Liverpool.
Malorie Blackman
has written over 70 books for children and young adults, including the highly acclaimed
Noughts & Crosses
, which was was voted as one of The 100 Greatest Children’s Books of All Time in a 2023 BBC Culture Poll (one of only fourteen books published in the 21st Century to make the list).
Malorie has written for the eleventh series of
Doctor Who
co-writing the episode
Rosa
with Chris Chibnall. This episode won TV Show of the Year for ‘making a positive social impact’ at the inaugural Visionary Honours at BAFTA. Her work has also been adapted for TV, including with the BAFTA winning 6 part adaptation of
Pig-Heart Boy
, and
Noughts + Crosses
for BBC One.
Noughts & Crosses
has also been adapted for stage by the RSC, Pilot Theatre (Winner of Excellence in Touring, UK Theatre Awards 2019), and Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. A stage adaptation of
Pig-Heart Boy
premiered at the Unicorn Theatre in 2025 in co-production with Sheffield Theatres and Children’s Touring Partnership.
Performances:
Thu 19 Mar – 7.45pm: Abbey Grange Academy
Tue 24 Mar – 7.45pm: Cockburn Laurence Calvert Academy
Performance: Tue 24 Mar at 7:45pm
Venue: Studio, York Theatre Royal
Duration: 0 hours
Age Guidance: 13+