Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Mark Haddon’s novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time quickly became a staple in high school English classes not very long after its publication in 2003. The highly original novel is a first-person narrative mystery told by Christopher Boone, an autistic British fifteen year-old, living in the small town of Swindon. Haddon employed some wonderfully creative devices to help capture Christopher’s unique perspective on his world including illustrations, maps and a batch of entertaining parenthetical observations. Ten years later, playwright Simon Stephens brought the work to London stages using a variety of dramatic techniques to again convey Christopher’s very different take on our world. Flashing strobe lights, mobile blackboards that serve as television screens and some really effective group choreography all help the audience begin to appreciate how autism can affect perception. The Village’s production led by director Jerry Dixon, choreographer Sonia Dawkins and sound designer Brent Warwick successfully meets the challenges of this very demanding script, bringing Christopher’s world alive.