Whether or not you have read Mark Haddon's novel, this imaginative
stage adaptation - originally produced by London's National Theatre - works beautifully
as a play as well as on its own as a marvel of stage craft wizardry and high-tech
design. But more importantly, it can be enjoyed as a mystery thriller with an
unusual twist. It's plot, as adapted by Simon Stephens, revolves around a fifteen-year-old
boy Christopher (Alex Sharp, in an extraordinary Broadway debut) who is
afflicted with autism and a compulsive and obsessive gift for mathematics,
telling the truth and taking literally, rather than metaphorically, everything
he sees. We follow him through his attempts to find out who killed the
neighbor's dog, a quest that leads to his discovery of some unsettling family
history.
As directed by Marianne Elliot (co-director of the also
awesomely staged "War Horse"), "The Curious Incident of the Dog
in the Night-Time" has been given a production that emphasizes
Christopher's mathematical prowess. The black and white scenery (designed by
Bunny Christie), including the floor and the walls, become a geometrically
fluid blackboard-like landscape (enhanced by Paule Constable's lighting and
Finn Ross's video design) for all the places that our brilliant young Sherlock
Holmes goes as he gets to the bottom of the mystery, as abetted by a terrific
all-American cast.
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