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THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME Send This Review to a Friend
I’ve never seen a play before that gets into the head of its protagonist with the effectiveness that we find in “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” a National Theatre production of the play by Simon Stephens based on the novel by Mark Haddon. The achievement, excitingly directed by Marianne Elliott, is especially impressive because the15-year-old youth in question is autistic, with his brain in perpetual turmoil and his behavior impulsive. One constant is that he can’t stand to be touched and screams when he is.
Christopher Boone is portrayed by Alex Sharp in what is surely an outstanding, award-level performance of the current season. (Taylor Trensch play plays Christopher on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees.) Sharp manages to be very likable so that we are deeply sympathetic to him. A magnificent array of highly unusual stagecraft helps us to penetrate Christopher’s certain type of brilliance.
Complementing the engaging acting are complex projections, a box-like black and white set with all sorts of openings when needed, great lighting effects, and a terrific sound design that accentuates Christopher’s inner and outside world. Much applause is due Bunny Christie (scenic and costume design); Paule Constable (lighting design); Finn Ross (video design); Jan Dickinson and For Autograph (sound design); Adrian Sutton (music) and Scott Graham and Steven Hogget for Frantic Assembly (choreography).
The swift movements of the large supporting cast are choreographed to emphasize the turbulence in Christopher’s life. He is brilliant mathematically and with meticulous tasks, but he has trouble caring for himself. Yet he is a determined lad when he sets out to see his mother in London by taking a train on his own. Christopher has been living with his father (Ian Barford), who when his wife left, first told Christopher that his mother (Enid Graham) was in a hospital, then that she was dead. When the lad sees letters from his mother, he is determined to visit her.
The scene in which Christopher struggles to take a train and make the trip is harrowing, and the effects here reach special heights. He travels with a pet white rat, and when the rat escapes onto the tracks in the London underground, Christopher leaps from the platform to search for it and bystanders are frantic as a train approaches. Given his phobia, Christopher doesn’t want to let anyone touch him to pull him up.
The title of the play comes from Christopher’s discovery at the outset that a neighbor’s dog is dead, with a pitchfork protruding from the animal. He is determined to find out who killed that dog. What he learns is deeply upsetting.
Christopher’s world is effectively explored, with cast members playing multiple roles as teachers, policemen, train officials and others in the mix of those he encounters. Francesca Siobhan excels as the boy’s special ed teacher, who sets an early tone by reading from a diary that he has written. By the end of the play, all’s well in the immediate situation, but of course, Christopehr’s autism is still there. A big help is the new puppy his father brings him, a face-liking pet bound to elicit “ahs “from the audience.
One thing I did not like was the ultimate lone curtain call that Sharp takes. He gives a dazzling turn explaining aspects of math in rapid-fire cadence, complete with wall illustrations. The audience may enjoy the bit, but the gambit turns Christopher into a vaudeville act that diminishes the sensitivity of the play we have just seen and creates an air of pandering show biz rather than the fine work that has been so moving. At the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, 243 West 47th Street. Phone: 212-239-6200. Reviewed October 9, 2014.
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