The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Play and Book Review
Part of my birthday present was a Matinée ticket for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I'd missed this first time it'd come to Plymouth so I was excited to go on the 29th.
I also missed being in the Theatre atmosphere since being in the People's Company +18 class for acting around two years ago.
The novel itself written by Mark Haddon and adapted by his playwright friend, Simon Stevens it tells through the experiences of Christopher, a young man who's hero is Sherlock Holmes which is where the book and adapted play's title comes from, The Adventure of Silver Blaze.
The storyline itself is true to the book's honesty and social naïvety - starting with a misunderstanding of Christopher stargazing or wandering in the wrong place at the right time to be framed for the murder of the neighbor's dog, who he has a connection with that he considers strong than with any human connection.
The opening scene is his reaction to Mrs Shears and the policeman is to become confused and triggered, meaning he reacts with moaning, blocking his ears and hitting people like the policeman when he's touched.
He likes order and this goes against the order or plan that he follows so he has these reactions.
Maths and Forensics have a systematic set of rules much his own rules that he follows like only liking Red or Pink foods or other objects like his pet Rat Toby, Timetables, Facts about Space and showing distaste or repulsion towards the colours Brown, Yellow, His food touching, People he doesn't know, and Loud Noises.
He copes by using Maths problems in his head when he feels threatened or by his triggered behavior reactions.
Unlike Christopher's rules the story has a timeline that isn't exactly in order of each event but, ordered in a functional way that shows his connection with each person. His memories of his Mother and her stress of trying to understand and cope with her son's condition which leads to her depression, and his father's anger at the world for lack of understanding towards his son which leads to some neglect and child abuse, particularly when Christopher has his violent turns after being touched.
The performance style & space is unique and add something that'll definitely challenge theatre set up and limits in the future.
Four steel walls and a floor which are projected onto by eight projectors. The floor has LED pixels to articulate scenes and make a large versatile prop along with soundtrack and sound design cues. Three pieces of Chalk are used per performance, as well as cardboard boxes and a trainset for some main props to the storyline.
As a disabled filmmaker I relished in the way Christopher describes himself as "Someone who has behavioral problems".
Mark Haddon comments that whether Christopher is accurate for someone with Aspergers Syndrome.
"I think it's indicative of the way we label "Disabled" that we can even ask this question. We would never ask if a character in a novel was a correct representation of cellist or a lesbian or an Archbishop. There is no such thing. And the same is true for people who are given the label "Disabled". They are as various and individual as any other group in Society."
My favorite scenes in the play itself were, When Christopher makes the connections in his mind about London and formulating a plan by building the train set to represent Swindon and London. The second part I loved was the Set design, Choreography, and Cinematography when Christopher is in The train and tube stations in London.
For the ways the book has explored the thought processes and been adapted into scripted lines, actions and characters within the world of Christopher Boone, I would give Three stars, however taking the Set design, Choreography, Sound Design and Cinematography the total for the book and play is seven stars altogether. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I also missed being in the Theatre atmosphere since being in the People's Company +18 class for acting around two years ago.
The novel itself written by Mark Haddon and adapted by his playwright friend, Simon Stevens it tells through the experiences of Christopher, a young man who's hero is Sherlock Holmes which is where the book and adapted play's title comes from, The Adventure of Silver Blaze.
The storyline itself is true to the book's honesty and social naïvety - starting with a misunderstanding of Christopher stargazing or wandering in the wrong place at the right time to be framed for the murder of the neighbor's dog, who he has a connection with that he considers strong than with any human connection.
The opening scene is his reaction to Mrs Shears and the policeman is to become confused and triggered, meaning he reacts with moaning, blocking his ears and hitting people like the policeman when he's touched.
He likes order and this goes against the order or plan that he follows so he has these reactions.
Maths and Forensics have a systematic set of rules much his own rules that he follows like only liking Red or Pink foods or other objects like his pet Rat Toby, Timetables, Facts about Space and showing distaste or repulsion towards the colours Brown, Yellow, His food touching, People he doesn't know, and Loud Noises.
He copes by using Maths problems in his head when he feels threatened or by his triggered behavior reactions.
Unlike Christopher's rules the story has a timeline that isn't exactly in order of each event but, ordered in a functional way that shows his connection with each person. His memories of his Mother and her stress of trying to understand and cope with her son's condition which leads to her depression, and his father's anger at the world for lack of understanding towards his son which leads to some neglect and child abuse, particularly when Christopher has his violent turns after being touched.
The performance style & space is unique and add something that'll definitely challenge theatre set up and limits in the future.
Four steel walls and a floor which are projected onto by eight projectors. The floor has LED pixels to articulate scenes and make a large versatile prop along with soundtrack and sound design cues. Three pieces of Chalk are used per performance, as well as cardboard boxes and a trainset for some main props to the storyline.
As a disabled filmmaker I relished in the way Christopher describes himself as "Someone who has behavioral problems".
Mark Haddon comments that whether Christopher is accurate for someone with Aspergers Syndrome.
"I think it's indicative of the way we label "Disabled" that we can even ask this question. We would never ask if a character in a novel was a correct representation of cellist or a lesbian or an Archbishop. There is no such thing. And the same is true for people who are given the label "Disabled". They are as various and individual as any other group in Society."
My favorite scenes in the play itself were, When Christopher makes the connections in his mind about London and formulating a plan by building the train set to represent Swindon and London. The second part I loved was the Set design, Choreography, and Cinematography when Christopher is in The train and tube stations in London.
For the ways the book has explored the thought processes and been adapted into scripted lines, actions and characters within the world of Christopher Boone, I would give Three stars, however taking the Set design, Choreography, Sound Design and Cinematography the total for the book and play is seven stars altogether. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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