The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time

Christopher Boone (Freddy Collyer) is a very complex character. He lives with a disability which affects his capacity to interact with the world around him and his family circumstances are also very troubling. The play is adapted from the very popular novel by Mark Haddon and the story is an extremely poignant one. HTC has done a phenomenal job in bringing this to the stage. 

Collyer’s performance is outstanding. The audience remains completely gripped to his very personal perspective of the world and he draws them into his mind, his psyche and, above all, his very turbulent emotional state. The entire cast provide some very solid performances and the main characters surrounding Christopher are given very good scope; Siobhan (Amelia Halmarick) is portrayed as warm and comforting, Ed (Soren Jensen) is played as very tortured, and Judy (Cat Jardine) is played as a fragile persona who struggles with Christopher’s very particular demands. This story deals with many sensitive issues and the quality of the performances does them a great deal of justice. 

The set and lighting design (Lisa McVilly, Deryk Hartwick) is especially impressive as it creates a marvellous and colourful space that takes you directly into Christopher’s mind. The aesthetics are enchanting and extremely cohesive. Numbers, mathematical formulas and bright constellations dominate the stage. The staging employs inventive choreography by the cast and the ensemble members to create the various scenes and this adds to the very delightful setting. This uplifting environment houses a sometimes-dark story in an exceptional manner. It especially highlights Christopher’s very child-like perspective on the world. This directorial approach also allows the scenes to seamlessly blend into one another and to use the theatre space in very imaginative ways. The music (David Cheshire) is also perfectly attuned to the difficult emotions and events addressed in this play and supports them with delicate melodies. 

This is a production which provides some very moving performances delivered in an alluring and spellbinding manner.

Patricia Di Risio 

Photographer: David Belton