The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (play)

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Written by	Mark Haddon, adapted by Simon Stephens
Characters	Christopher John Francis Boone (15-year old maths-genius detective); Ed Boone (Father); Judy Boone (Mother); Siobhan (School mentor); Roger & Eileen Shears (Neighbours); Mrs Alexander (Neighbour); Toby (Christopher's pet rat); Wellington (Mrs Shears' dead dog)
Date premiered	2 August 2012 (2012-08-02)[1]
Place premiered	Royal National Theatre[1]
Original language	English
Subject	Autism spectrum, Family drama, Crime fiction
Genre	Drama
Setting	Swindon and London

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a play adapted by Simon Stephens from the novel of the same name by Mark Haddon. The story concerns a mystery surrounding the death of a neighbour's dog that is investigated by young Christopher Boone, who has Asperger's-like issues, and his relationships with his parents and school mentor. During its premiere run, the play tied the record for winning the most Olivier Awards (seven), including Best New Play at the 2013 ceremony.

The play's West End Theatre debut was 2 August 2012 at the Royal National Theatre as Theatre in the round. It transferred to the Apollo Theatre in 2013, but following a roof collapse it closed down. It reopened on 9 July 2014 at the Gielgud Theatre. A Broadway theatre production debuted at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on 5 October 2014. A UK touring production is set to begin in late 2014.

The play reworked the source material by changing its voice and presenting the story as a play-within-a-play. The play has 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.

Characters

• Christopher John Francis Boone: The 15-year-old protagonist, who investigates the murder of Mrs. Shears' large dog, Wellington.
• Mr Boone: Christopher's father, a boiler engineer. Prior to the beginning of the story, he has been living with Christopher as a single parent for two years
• Mrs Boone: Christopher's mother. Early in the book, Christopher writes that she died of a heart attack two years before the book's events
• Siobhan: Christopher's para-professional and mentor at school. She teaches him how society works and how to behave within its complex guidelines
• Mr Roger Shears: One of the neighbours who lived near the Boones, but has left his wife before the story begins
• Mrs Eileen Shears: Mr Shears' wife, who attempts to console Ed for a time after Christopher learns of his mother's death
• Mrs Alexander: An old lady, who is one of Christopher's neighbours, who offers information to help Christopher's investigation regarding his parents and Mr and Mrs Shears
• Toby: Christopher's pet rat
• Wellington: Mrs. Shears' large black poodle, which Christopher finds dead in her garden, with a garden fork sticking out of him.

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.^[2][3] The result is that the play is presented as a play-within-a-play.^[4]

The play, set in Swindon and London^[5] is about a 15-year-old amateur detective named Christopher John Francis Boone who is a math genius. He appears to have an unspecified autism spectrum disorder that is variously described as either autism^[6] or Asperger's Syndrome,^[7] although the condition is never explicitly stated in the play.^[8] The titular curious incident is the mystery surrounding the death of a neighbour's dog found speared by a garden fork.^[8]

While searching for the murderer of the dog, he encounters resistance from many neighbours, but mostly from his father, Ed Boone. Christopher argues to himself that many rules are made to be broken, so he continues to search for an answer; he compares himself to Sherlock Holmes. When he discovers that his father killed the dog, Christopher fears for his own life and travels to London to find and live with his mother, who his father had told him had died. He encounters many problems during the journey, but is welcomed by his mother. However, the road to his ambitions leads him back to Swindon, where he wants to pass important mathematics tests. Everything seems to be an obstacle, but Christopher is eventually reunited with his father and this improves his own future.

Productions

Theatre	Opening Date	Closing Date	Perfs.	Details
Royal National Theatre, London	2 August 2012	27 October 2012	?	Premiere production
Apollo Theatre, West End	12 March 2013	19 December 2013	?	West End debut
Gielgud Theatre, West End	9 July 2014	—	?	West End re-opening
Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway	5 October 2014	—	?	Broadway debut

West End

Adapted by Simon Stephens and directed by Marianne Elliott,^[9] the show premièred at the Royal National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre on 2 August 2012.^[1] The performance there were played in the round.^[10] The production starred Luke Treadaway as Christopher, Nicola Walker as his mother Judy, Paul Ritter as his father Ed, Una Stubbs as Mrs. Alexander and Niamh Cusack as Siobhan.^[11] The production, which ran until late October 2012, was broadcast live to cinemas worldwide on Thursday 6 September 2012 through the National Theatre Live programme.^[12] The show transferred to the West End's Apollo Theatre in March.^[13] Performances began on 1 March, with an official opening on 12 March. Seán Gleeson and Holly Aird joined the cast as Christopher's parents.^[14]

On 19 December 2013, during a performance, part of the Apollo Theatre's roof collapsed, injuring nearly 80 people.^[15] As a result all further performances were cancelled^[16][17] and a new theatre was sought.^[18] The Apollo's balcony required extensive repairs.^[19][20] In February 2014, the producers staged 8 free lunchtime performances for audiences from 14 secondary schools at the Stratford Old Town Hall.^[10] The production finally re-opened at the nearby Gielgud Theatre, beginning previews on 24 June 2014, with its official opening night on 9 July.^[21]

Broadway

The Show opened on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on 5 October 2014, after beginning previews on September 10.^[22] It is again produced by the Royal National Theatre^[23] and directed by Elliott.^[24] The Broadway adaptation stars Alex Sharp (in his first professional role ever),^[25] Enid Graham, Ian Barford, and Francesca Faridany.^[26] In January 2014, the production was announced to have tickets available as far in advance as September 2015.^[27]

Tours

A touring cast is set to begin at The Lowry in Salford in late 2014.^[28] While still running in the West End at the Gielgud and at Broadway's Barrymore Theatre, the 31-city United Kingdom tour began previews at The Lowry from December 18 in advance of an official opening on January 9.^[29]

Historical casting

The following tables show the casts of the principal original productions:

Role	Royal National 2012[11]	Apollo Theatre 2013	Gielgud 2014[30]	Ethel Barrymore 2014[31]	UK National Tour 2015
Christopher	Luke Treadaway		Graham Butler	Alex Sharp (Taylor Trensch at certain performances)	Joshua Jenkins (Chris Ashby at certain performances)
Siobhan	Niamh Cusack		Sarah Woodward	Francesca Faridany	Geraldine Alexander
Ed	Paul Ritter	Seán Gleeson	Nicolas Tennant	Ian Barford	Stuart Laing
Judy	Nicola Walker	Holly Aird	Emily Joyce	Enid Graham	Gina Isaac
Mrs. Shears/Mrs. Gascoyne/Woman on Train/Shopkeeper/Voice One	Sophie Duval		Victoria Willing	Mercedes Herrero	Clare Perkins
Roger Shears/Duty Sergeant/Mr. Wise/Man behind Counter/Drunk One/Voice Two	Nick Sidi		Daniel Casey	Richard Hollis	Lucas Hare
Mr. Thompson/Policeman 1/Drunk Two/Man with Socks/London Policeman/Voice Three	Matthew Barker		Paul Stocker	Ben Horner	Edward Grace
Reverend Peters/Uncle Terry/Station Policeman/Station Guard/Voice Four	Howard Ward		Tony Turner	David Manis	John McAndrew
No. 37/Lady in Street/Information/Punk Girl/Voice Five	Rhiannon Harper-Rafferty		Vivienne Acheampong	Jocelyn Bioh	Emmanuella Cole
Mrs. Alexander/Posh Woman/Voice Six	Una Stubbs	Tilly Tremayne	Gay Soper	Helen Carey	Roberta Kerr

Notable replacements at the Apollo included Rakie Ayola as Siobhan, Amanda Drew as Judy and Daniel Casey as Roger Shears.^[32]

Awards and nominations

The nominations for the 2013 Laurence Olivier Awards, which recognise excellence in professional productions staged in London, were announced on 26 March 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.^[33] The production eventually won seven Olivier awards,^[34] thereby equalling Matilda the Musical's record win total in 2012.^[35][36] The play was also acclaimed with the Best New Play on 17 February 2013 at the Whatsonstage Awards.^[37]

West End production

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Result
2013	Laurence Olivier Awards[34]	Best New Play		Won
		Best Director	Marianne Elliott	Won
		Best Actor	Luke Treadaway	Won
		Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Nicola Walker	Won
		Best Sound Design	Ian Dickinson and Adrian Sutton	Won
		Best Lighting Design	Paule Constable	Won
		Best Set Design	Bunny Christie and Finn Ross	Won
		Best Theatre Choreographer	Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett	Nominated

Broadway production

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Result
2015	Tony Award[38]	Best Play		Pending
		Best Direction of a Play	Marianne Elliott	Pending
		Best Actor in a Play	Alex Sharp	Pending
		Best Lighting Design of a Play	Paule Constable	Pending
		Best Scenic Design of a Play	Bunny Christie and Finn Ross	Pending
		Best Choreography	Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett	Pending
	Drama Desk Award[39]	Outstanding Play		Pending
		Outstanding Actor in a Play	Alex Sharp	Pending
		Outstanding Director of a Play	Marianne Elliott	Pending
		Outstanding Lighting Design	Paule Constable	Pending
		Outstanding Projection Design	Finn Ross	Pending
		Outstanding Sound Design in a Play	Ian Dickinson for Autograph	Pending
	Drama League Award[40]	Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play		Pending
		Distinguished Performance Award	Alexander Sharp	Pending
	Outer Critics Circle Award[41]	Outstanding New Broadway Play		Pending
		Outstanding Director of a Play	Marianne Elliott	Pending
		Outstanding Set Design	Bunny Christie	Pending
		Outstanding Lighting Design	Paule Constable	Pending
		Outstanding Actor in a Play	Alex Sharp	Pending
		Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play	Francesca Faridany	Pending

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."^[9]

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 'behavioural problems' could possibly work in the theatre."^[42] 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.^[43] 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".^[8]

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." Brantley found fault, however, with "having Siobhan ... recite the story he has written, presented as a school project. Ms. Cusack does this with a gushy, artificial sense of wonder that you associate with grown-ups talking to small children ... Yuck."^[44]

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.^[45]

Broadway

Richard Zoglin of Time described the play as "a demonstration of the power of theater to transport us to exotic places".^[2] Steven Suskin, drama critic for The Huffington Post, said the play entertains, illuminates, and brings us to an exalted new place.^[46] Adam Green of Vogue says the play is "a testament to the singular power of theater".^[4] 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.^[6] 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".^[47] She lauded Sharp's "movement, expressions and voice making the boy's terrors and his ferocious intelligence seem equally natural".^[47]

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.^[48] 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.^[49] Deadline.com's Jeremy Gerard felt that the production combines the obsessed math prodigy element of A Beautiful Mind with the mentoring compassion of Billy Elliot.^[50] 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.^[51]

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.^[52] His Wall Street Journal colleague Stefanie Cohen thought the play suffered from difficulty in adapting the book to the stage.^[3]

Notes

External links

• Official Broadway show website
• Broadway show at Playbill

Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play (2001–2025) Blue/Orange (2001) Jitney (2002) Vincent in Brixton (2003) The Pillowman (2004) The History Boys (2005) On the Shore of the Wide World (2006) Blackbird (2007) A Disappearing Number (2008) Black Watch (2009) The Mountaintop (2010) Clybourne Park (2011) Collaborators (2012) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2013) Chimerica (2014) King Charles III (2015) Complete list (1976–2000) (2001–2025)