2 FAITHFUL TO THE BOOK
The script in Simon Stephens' play adaptation was almost entirely faithful to Mark Haddon's award-winning book, an important aspect given the unique nature of the narration from 15-year-old protagonist Christopher John Francis Boone. The narration from the lead character is very precise with matters both relevant and seemingly largely irrelevant described in great detail. Without giving too much away, Christopher is an autistic mathematics genius who notices patterns, especially in numbers. He also seemingly has a photographic memory, can recall whole conversations to the word, and lives his life in a solely logical and fundamentally truthful manner.
However, his self-admitted "behavioural difficulties" mean he finds it difficult to mix socially - he cannot eat a plate of food if the broccoli and baked beans are touching, or use a toilet if a stranger has previously been in it. He cannot understand metaphors at all and has little ability to use "white lies" to keep himself out of trouble. Consequently, even the most unremarkable situations can become extraordinarily difficult, something which the play demonstrated over and over again by keeping the narrative pretty much exactly as it was originally written, f-word and all.
3 TECHNICAL BRILLIANCE
Equally as brilliant as the acting and the narrative was the technical output - aided by the intentional decision not to change the physical background throughout the whole of the play. Instead, against grid walls and a grid floor similar to squared paper in maths exercise books, excellent use of lighting marked scene changes with each square in the grid able to light individually or, as often was the case, in a pattern.
In representation of Christopher's horribly confused state of mind when faced with an overload of information, streams of letters and words would flash rapidly across the walls. But - at other times when Christopher was feeling calmer and able to think logically - star constellations, diagrams, maps and mathematical puzzles would appear or be scrawled across the walls in an additional device to explain the narrative. It was all magnificently innovative and quite fascinating in itself to watch.
5 RELEVANT STUDY THEMES
Author Haddon has mixed feelings that The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time has become a set text, studied by schoolchildren and used for professional purposes by policemen and social workers. In June 2012, he wrote on his blog: "I'm a little uneasy when, as occasionally happens, it is used as a textbook, and handed to policemen or social workers to give them some insight into the behaviour of people they might come across in their professional lives."
This is understandable on the author's part - it was, after all, written by him purely as a novel, and nothing more. And yet, within the conversations in his narrative, Haddon so naturally incorporates the raw emotions of two big themes - family breakdown and disability discrimination - that the next generation would be missing out on their own development if there were simply no analysis whatsoever. If nothing else, though, it was wonderful to see that a couple of school trips were clearly as absorbed in what was an impressive, heart-tugging adaptation.
7 THE BEST OF BRITISH HUMOUR
On a lighter note, it is clear that The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time is a British book, simply from its intentionally understated humour, drawn largely from Christopher's inability to understand or cope with everyday social situations. Often his lack of comprehension is greeted with a disbelieving expletive - "Holy fucking Jesus, Christopher. How stupid are you?" - but, sometimes even more cruelly, he receives a response dripping in sarcasm. Of course, as the sarcasm cannot be taken literally and Christopher is only able to understand logic, this does nothing more than serve to confuse him further with the potential for still more misunderstandings.
11 ALL-ROUND PACKAGE AND REPUTATION
Clearly from the outset, the performance at the Theatre Royal of Simon Stephens' stage adaptation of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time was not going to be a dud. As a winner of seven Olivier awards in 2013 from its highly-acclaimed West End run in London, the arrival of this play in the north east was much-anticipated - although that is, of course, no complete guarantee of a good showing.
Thankfully, though, it fully lived up to its fine reputation, staying faithful to a thoughtful, quirky and gladdening tale, and providing two-and-a-half hours of truly great entertainment.
Limited tickets are still available at the Newcastle Theatre Royal here or by calling the Box Office on 08448 112121.
*“Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them.”
Christopher Boone,The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time
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