REVIEW: The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time

Mayflower, Southampton, until Saturday, April 1.
David Michaels (Ed), Scott Reid (Christopher Boone) NT Curious Incident Tour 2017. Photo by BrinkhoffMgenburgDavid Michaels (Ed), Scott Reid (Christopher Boone) NT Curious Incident Tour 2017. Photo by BrinkhoffMgenburg
David Michaels (Ed), Scott Reid (Christopher Boone) NT Curious Incident Tour 2017. Photo by BrinkhoffMgenburg

Theatre really doesn’t come with much more impact than the National Theatre’s endlessly-inventive, striking and provocative The Curious Incident.

A superb cast revels in the story-telling as fifteen-year-old Christopher goes on the most remarkable of adventures after finding himself wrongly accused of spearing Mrs Shears’ dog to death.

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Christopher is a special kind of lad, with a love of numbers and a hatred of being touched, a boy with Asperger Syndrome who forces himself out of his very limited comfort zone to penetrate the mystery of just what exactly has happened to his family.

Scott Reid is excellent in the role, brilliantly served by a production which sets out to take us into his mind for a glimpse at the way he views the world. The hustle and bustle of arriving in London with all its challenges and dangers is superbly done.

But above all, the piece shows us the devastating impact of his condition on his family. The performances from Sarah Stanley and David Michaels as his parents are outstanding in a show which just keeps on coming at you, delivered with pace and huge imagination, Paule Constable’s lighting design almost another character as the events unfold.

Phil Hewitt

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