A Curious Incident Brought To Life

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night

                                                                    By Mark Haddon

                                                   

....The Hussies read this novel back in November 2012, all agreed that it suceeded in its mission to show the world through the eyes of a boy with Aspergers. Its childlike style made it easy to read but at times tedious because of the level of trivial detail the boy included in his narrative. Two years on and I would have to admit that although the title evokes a warm glow in my mind I have no clear memory of what the book was about. A good time to go and see the Royal National Theatres production of the novel, a great success in that won 7 Olivier Awards in 2013. The novel was adapted by Simon Stephens and directed by Marianne Elliott. As part of The National Theatre Live programme we had the opportunity to watch the play from the comfort of  The Gate Cinema, Newcastle. Despite showing it as sold out on line, the cinema was barely half full, a shame as the evening turned out to be an unexpected treat.

.... Great acting and a new and innovative approach to set design brought the story to life and really gave the audience an insight into the world of Aspergers/Autism. There were some familiar faces amongst the cast, most notably Nicola Walker (Spooks, Scott and Bailey and Last Tango in Halifax)
She played Christopher's mother Judy, a not altogether appealing character! She won an Olivier Award in 2013 for her performance.
Niamh Cusack took the role of Siobhan, Christopher's teacher and shared the narration with Christopher, at times her voice was a little grating but she was convincing as a special needs teacher.
The actor playing Christopher was excellent and could move the audience to laughter and tears in equal measure.

....Lighting was used inventively transforming a very plain stage bereft of  props into busy stations
moving trains and alarming tube platforms. The production had the cutting edge feel similar to
that of the new TV series of Sherlock Holmes and a fantastic performance from Una Stubbs that reinforced the similarities between the shows.

....An excellent production that sucked the audience in making us forget that we were watching in a
cinema and not actually in the theatre. The play is coming up to the North East next year and I would definitely recommend a trip to see it!