This adaptation of Mark Haddon's award winning novel starts and ends well, and has a superb lead performance, but is let down by some overly ambitious staging.Rating
Good
Mark Haddon‘s superb 2003 novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time won an enormous amount of critical acclaim and awards upon its release. Given its best seller status, it was perhaps of unsurprising that a theatre adaptation arrived to further praise back in 2012, and successfully played in the West End for five years. Nine years on and the play still feels pleasing fresh, too, and it’s a sympathetic and thoughtful portrayal of living with Asperger’s syndrome.
To its credit, the play doesn’t spell out exactly where its lead character is on the spectrum. It cares more about proving that, while someone may struggle at times, they’re still capable of truly great things. Set in the late 90s, it centres around the life of fifteen-year-old Christopher (Elspeth Reid, superb throughout), who has been living with his largely supportive father (Matt Tylianakis) ever since his mother passed away. The two seem to have a strong relationship, and it is only the sudden upset of the murder of a neighbour’s dog which sees their bond begin to fracture.
The play benefits from a strong script and great performances. On the more negative side, the staging is overly ambitious. At times it feels a little too complicated. A chorus of characters sometimes serve as props or scenery, or even contribute a small piece of dance, but their use seems unpredictable and they’re forgotten about for long periods. A selection of cubes which are moved around the stage in often quite clunky manner, to good effect in some scenes but perplexingly in others.
This also applies to the use of a backlit projection which serves many a purpose, from representing Christopher’s notes as he turns detective to showing a barrage of words as he attempts to make his way through London. An effective addition to these scenes, elsewhere the use of animations to show how stressed or upset Christopher is seems unneeded and distracting.
It’s a shame that some of the staging doesn’t quite work, as there’s a great deal that directors Alice Bennett and Emma Bowker do get right. All of the performances are impressive, the play moves at a great pace, and the use of montages, flashbacks and even a meta commentary on Christopher’s story being turned in to a real play all make it an engrossing viewing.
Portraying neurodiverse characters is something which needs a light, deft hand so that it doesn’t feel patronising, but Elspeth Reid handles it beautifully throughout. The production ends on a high note as well, with a message that is all too often forgotten about in similar serious fare. The running time of two and a half hours just flies by, and this often does feel very similar to a West End production, something which amateur group Sedos should be extremely proud of.
Based on the novel by Mark Haddon and Adapted by Simon Stephens
Directed by Alice Bennett and Emma Bowker
Movement directed by Emma Bowker
Produced by Gabriel Cradden and Pippa Kyle
Music Composed by Ollie Jones
Lighting Design by Olly Levett
Sound Design by Omar Hussein
Costumes by Clare Harding
Set and Projection Designed by Ellen Redgrave
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time plays at the Bridewell Theatre until Saturday 18th July
