The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Play)
The play premiered on August 2, 2012 in the Cottesloe Theatre at the Royal National Theatre in London before transferring to the Apollo Theatre in the West End on March 12, 2013. It won seven Olivier Awards in 2013 (including Best New Play), at the time equaling the record with Matilda the Musical in 2012, before both were surpassed by Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in 2017 with nine awards. During a performance on December 19, 2013, the ceiling of the Apollo Theatre collapsed, which forced the production to close. It reopened on July 9. 2014 at the Gielgud Theatre. The play closed at the Gielgud on June 3, 2017.
The Broadway production debuted at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on October 5, 2014 and closed on September 4, 2016. It won the 2015 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, 2015 Outer Critics Circle Award Outstanding New Broadway Play, the 2015 Drama League Award for Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play, and the 2015 Tony Award for Best Play.
Mickey Rowe was the first openly autistic actor to play Christopher Boone in the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. He documented this experience in the book Fearlessly Different: An Autistic Actor's Journey to Broadway's Biggest Stage.
The story concerns a mystery surrounding the death of a neighbor’s dog that is investigated by young Christopher Boone, who is autistic. It explores his relationships with his parents and school mentor. The play reworked the source material by changing its voice and presenting the story as a play-within-a-play. The play received a generally warm reception, with most critics impressed by its ability to convey the point of view of the young protagonist and the compassion of his school mentor. Critics also generally spoke highly of the visual effects employed during the show.
Plot
The play involves a significant reworking of the source material. Rather than present the story in the first-person narrative as the original novel did, the play is presented as a reading of Boone's own writing, read aloud in segments by his teacher. The result is that the play is presented as a play-within-a-play.
Set in Swindon and London, the story concerns 15-year-old Christopher John Francis Boone, a mathematical genius with an autism spectrum disorder, although his condition is never specified in the play. The titular curious incident is the mystery surrounding the death of Wellington, his neighbor Mrs. Shears' poodle, after Christopher finds the dog speared with a garden fork.
While trying to discover who killed Wellington, he encounters resistance from many neighbors, but mostly from his widowed father, Ed. Christopher argues to himself that many rules are made to be broken, so he continues to search for an answer. During his investigation, Christopher happens across letters from his mother, Judy, dated after her alleged death. Ed admits that Judy is alive and living in London with their neighbor with whom she had an affair; he had fabricated the story about her dying from a heart attack two years prior. He also admits that he killed Wellington in a fit of fury after an argument with Mrs. Shears.
Distraught and fearing for his life, Christopher heads to London to find and live with his mother, traveling by himself for the first time in his life. He finds the journey overstimulating and stressful but eventually succeeds and is welcomed by his mother. His ambitions lead him back to Swindon, where he wants to sit an A Level mathematics exam. Christopher achieves the best possible result and gradually reconciles with his father.
In a short scene after the curtain call, Christopher reappears to brilliantly solve his "favorite question" from the mathematics exam.
National Theatre
Adapted by Simon Stephens and directed by Marianne Elliott, the show premiered at the Royal National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre on August 2, 2012. The performance there was played in the round. The production starred Luke Treadaway as Christopher, Niamh Cusack as his inspirational teacher Siobhan, Nicola Walker as his mother Judy, Paul Ritter as his father Ed and Una Stubbs as Mrs. Alexander. The production, which ran until late October 2012, was broadcast live to cinemas worldwide on Thursday September 6, 2012 through the National Theatre Live program.
West End
The show transferred to the West End's Apollo Theatre in March 2013. Performances began on March 1, with an official opening on March 12. Seán Gleeson and Holly Aird joined the cast as Christopher's parents.
On December 19, 2013, during a performance, part of the Apollo Theatre's roof collapsed, injuring nearly 80 people. As a result, all further performances were cancelled, and a new theatre was sought. The Apollo's balcony required extensive repairs. In February 2014, the producers staged 8 free lunchtime performances for audiences from 14 secondary schools at the Stratford Old Town Hall. The production finally re-opened at the nearby Gielgud Theatre, beginning previews on June 24, 2014, with its official opening night on July 9.
The West End production closed on June 3, 2017, after playing over 1,600 performances.
The production returned to the West End at the Piccadilly Theatre from November 29, 2018 (with an official opening night on December 11) for a limited run until April 27, 2019.
Broadway
The play opened on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on October 5, 2014, after beginning previews on September 10. It is again produced by the Royal National Theatre and directed by Elliott. The original Broadway cast included Alex Sharp (in his first professional role ever) as Christopher, Enid Graham as his mother Judy, Ian Barford as his father Ed, and Francesca Faridany as Siobhan. The production is choreographed by Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett.
The Broadway production closed on September 4, 2016 after 800 performances.
Awards and nominations
The nominations for the 2013 Laurence Olivier Awards, which recognize excellence in professional productions staged in London, were announced on March 26, 2013. The production secured the most nominations with eight, including Best New Play, Best Director (Elliott), Best Actor (Treadaway), Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and other categories including Best Set Design, Best Lighting Design, Best Sound Design and Best Choreographer. The production eventually won seven Olivier awards, thereby equaling Matilda the Musical's record win total in 2012. The play was also acclaimed with the Best New Play on February 17, 2013 at the Whatsonstage Awards.
The Play also earned 6 Tony Award nominations in 2015, winning 5, the most of any play that year.
Critical response
West End
Lyn Gardner of The Guardian wrote a rave review, commenting that "There are times when the show comes perilously close to sentimentality, but the clarity of Christopher's gaze is so unflinching that it often makes you uncomfortable, and the show is equally clear-eyed on the difficulties of parenting, messiness of life, and torment of a child who cannot bear to be touched. ... Leading a fine cast, Luke Treadaway is superb as Christopher, appealing and painful to watch, like the show itself."
Susannah Clapp, of The Observer, wrote in 2013, "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was one of the most original shows and startling successes at the National last year. It's hard to recall the surprise of this... Yet it at first seemed unlikely that Mark Haddon's novel about a boy with a mathematical gift and 'behavioral problems' could possibly work in the theatre." Paul Taylor of The Independent described the work as an "imaginative adaptation" and "brilliant production" saying that it was presented in a "fresh and arresting light" while balancing humor and tragedy. Taylor judged Treadaway's performance superlative citing, among other things, his rhythm, movements and delivery. Matt Wolf of The New York Times added that the play's debut was well-timed in relation to the 2012 London Summer Olympics: "its triumphalist spirit tallies exactly with the mood of this summer's athletic aspirations".
Ben Brantley, the chief theatre critic of The New York Times, wrote: "As directed by Marianne Elliott, working with an inspired set of designers, Christopher's maiden voyage into an alien metropolis becomes a virtuoso study in sensory overload. Those lights, noises, street signs, road maps, random words that spell themselves into being, and, oh yes, that moving staircase that materializes out of nowhere: it all keeps coming at you". Brantley went on to say that the "extraordinary accomplishment" of the play "is that it forces you to look at the world through Christopher's order-seeking eyes. In doing so you're likely to reconsider the dauntless battle your own mind is always waging against the onslaught of stimuli that is life. Scary, isn't it? Exhilarating too."
Charles Spencer of The Daily Telegraph, on the other hand, thought that Siobhan's turning the book Christopher writes into a play "may sound cumbersome but it works superbly". Like others, Spencer praised Treadaway: "He is unbearably poignant in moments of distress when he kneels with his face on the ground and moans, but also movingly captures the character's courage, his brilliance at mathematics, and his startling perspectives on the world ... thanks to Treadaway's pained honesty and twitchy awkwardness, as well as his moments of exultant joy, Christopher Boone feels like both a hero and a friend, though the happy ending is rightly qualified." Spencer also praised Gleason and Cusack.
Broadway
Richard Zoglin of Time described the play as "a demonstration of the power of theater to transport us to exotic places". Steven Suskin, drama critic for The Huffington Post, said the play entertains, illuminates, and brings us to an exalted new place. Adam Green of Vogue says the play is "a testament to the singular power of theater". Brantley, in his review of the New York production, called the work "manipulative", writing that it "retunes the way you see and hear" by forcing you to embrace a heightened sensory perception along with the main protagonist. Elysa Gardner of USA Today described the experience of viewing the play as a journey "inside Christopher's gifted, troubled mind using inventive visual and sonic effects". She lauded Sharp's "movement, expressions and voice making the boy's terrors and his ferocious intelligence seem equally natural".
Peter Marks of The Washington Post praised the visual graphics of the show as being better presented than the "textual and performance elements" noting that the working of Boone's brain upstaged the detective work of finding the killer. Jennifer Farrar of the Associated Press thought the show a "charming, intricately choreographed and dynamic theatrical experience" and that Alex Sharp's presentation of Christopher exemplifies the life skill of overcoming personal challenge. Deadline Hollywood's Jeremy Gerard felt that the production combines the obsessed math prodigy element of A Beautiful Mind with the mentoring compassion of Billy Elliot. Joe Dziemianowicz of The Daily News found Sharp's performance "dazzling" and "physical and emotionally intense" and praised the design, lighting, music and video displays.
Terry Teachout, drama critic for The Wall Street Journal dissented, describing the "fantastically elaborate video projections" pejoratively, saying that they are smothering. He felt the show was popular because of the trendy nature of Asperger's syndrome and that it was too reliant on trickery. His Wall Street Journal colleague Stefanie Cohen thought the play suffered from difficulty in adapting the book to the stage.
Comments
Post a Comment