THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME

A witty and clever novel turned wonderfully unique play, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time is strikingly original. I read the book a number of years ago and enjoyed it, so was naturally eager to see its National Theatre interpretation by director Marianne Elliott. I also had to write a review on it for my drama coursework, but my finished review is long, technical and probably quite boring, so seeing as I enjoyed the play so much I thought I should write something brief here.

 

Sarah Woodward as Christopher's teacher, who was also the narrator of the production
Photocredits - http://www.thetimes.co.uk/

The plot is simplistic: 15 year old Christopher Boone, who suffers from Asperger Syndrome, or what he calls ‘Behavioural Problems’, finds his next door neighbour’s dog dead in the garden, impaled with a garden fork. Disobeying the advice from his father, he investigates the case and ends up finding out a lot more than just who the murderer was – I won’t spoil anything else.

 

Graham Butler as Christopher Boone
Photocredits - http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/

The topic of mental disability is a tricky one to present convincingly in a production without misrepresenting it, but the unique image of Christopher’s Asperger Syndrome was shown with a cubic, graph-like set. The stage was interactive, lighting up with sketchy diagrams showing Christopher’s thought processes and the odd flurry of numbers; it was almost like looking into his brain. It was mesmerising and modern, a great piece of work for set designer Bunny Christie.

My favorite scene - Christopher 'flying' in space
Photocredits - http://www.whatsonstage.com/

The lead was played by Graham Butler, who did a fantastic job at representing a difficult character to master. He met the dancer-demands of the complex physical theatre in the production, there was one scene where he was held horizontally against the left wall of the stage by only two other actors: he made this look effortless. However, I thought the characterisation of Christopher in the production was slightly less rigid than in the book. In the book he’s quite awkward – you want to like him but there’s the ever-prominent side to him that’s pretty difficult and annoying; in the play he was much more likeable. Saying this, although Butler managed to capture the hearts of the majority of the audience, I think he was too old for the role, which reduced the believability of the show.

The show wasn’t quite touching enough to be tear-jerking, but it was directed with such creativity that I would have to recommend it. A couple of moments could be worked on to increase the performance’s emotional impact on an audience, but I’m really picking at the details. Whether or not you’ve read the book, the play is highly entertaining and inventive; I would definitely recommend a visit. 8.5/10

L'Oyin and Josephine popping out from backstage...... Not a very good photo