The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time was originally a book written by Mark Haddon but was later adapted into a play by Simon Stephens and had a very successful run, winning dozens of awards.
The Curious Incident in question is the murder of Wellington, Ms Shears’ dog who was found dead, you guessed it, at midnight.
The play follows Christopher, the young boy who first found the dog, as he recounts the story of how he solved this mystery to his teacher. As the mystery seems to be coming to a close Christopher uncover secrets that were never meant to be discovered, all while trying to navigate the complex world around them as a young boy with Asperger’s Syndrome.
With a simple set and no songs the play had to be carried by the actors, and they more than succeeded in this role. Greyson Simons did an excellent job bringing Christopher to life, showing an immense care for the performance, and bringing a warmth with them that shone through every scene. It was their scenes with Jayson Dixon, who played Christopher’s father, that really tugged at the heartstrings of the audience, giving them an all too real and personal look into these people’s lives.
Of course this praise should be extended to all actors, since without even one of them putting in 100% some of these heart wrenching scenes could have felt forced or fake. There should be no end to the praise for the stage crew and all the other people involved in bringing this play to life.
From the creative use of environments and props to the unique framing device this play was certainly a one of a kind experience for all those who got to see it. For all those who didn’t have the opportunity to experience the play they could check out the story in its original format as a book; although they will be missing out on that magical element of theater that elevated this story into something spellbinding.
