The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time


Space / Astronaut scene:

I enjoyed the moment when Christopher was lifted by other cast members and they supported him in the air as he moved in slow motion. Christopher's physicality was interesting as his slow arm movements whilst being elevated indicated that he was floating in space. Additionally, the slow and large movements created a 'dreamy' physicality. This was assisted by the ensemble moving him around which helped create this outer-space imagery. Stars were projected across the stage, accompanied by a dark blue wash; visually, the stage clearly represented Christopher's dream of being an astronaut. In a literal sense, the projected stars represented space. However, looking further into what stars often represent, they could have been symbolic of dreams and aspirations; Christopher was a high achiever/aspirer, and believed anything was possible.

Houses / Investigating the Street scene

When Christopher was investigating the death of Wellington, he investigated each house on his street. I enjoyed the use of blocks to create each house in a different way; sometimes the blocks would be used as a door, and other times they would be chairs, tables or a television. In particular, the family watching football was very visually exciting - they moved in slow motion, leaning forward in their seats and clenching their fists to show captivation into the match. This moment was more effective in slow motion, as the facial expressions were clearer and more exaggerated. I also felt this was effective contextually, as a modern audience can easily relate to a family gathering to watch a football match and therefore the facial expressions created humour and provoked familiarity.

The movement of the boxes is something I would like to incorporate into our final performance of TV People; the constant moving of the blocks completely changed the staging and therefore kept the audience engaged visually. Moving blocks to represent furniture or parts of a house is very simple and will be a good alternative to having props. As an audience member I found that the movement of blocks made the scene pacey as opposed to having to bring a door or a TV onto stage.

I also enjoyed the projection of house numbers. Not only did it make it clear when Christopher had moved onto the next house, but the use of numbers related well to Christopher's way of thinking and obsession with counting and order. This links back to his autism.

Grandma scene

Again, pace was used during the scene when Christopher visited the old lady on his street. The change in pace whilst the Grandma went to get the biscuits was very funny and also exaggerated the characterisation of both Christopher and the Grandma. As she walked away, she moved in extreme slow motion and this contrasted perfectly with Christopher moving in fast motion. Christopher's physicality stood out to me as being very exciting and unique - the way he looked at his watch and tapped his foot very quickly indicated how slowly the Grandma was moving in comparison to the rest of the world. This moment was my personal favourite.

Trains - motif

I found trains to be symbolic throughout the production - personally I found them to be symbolic of Christopher's journey and finding his independence. Building the train tracks around the stage led up to the moment when the train tracks came alive and the toy train went around it. This moment before the interval foreshadowed what Christopher planned to do in the second half of the production, (get on the train to find his mum). Additionally, I felt that the building of the train tracks was symbolic of his building his confidence and him working on his project, (finding out who killed Wellington and working up the courage to see his mother). He began slowly, but built up the speed over time - eventually he was running from different sides of the stage to grab sections of the train track. I personally found this to show his franticness and rush. Like the Grandma scene, I feel that Christopher was presented as an impatient character who liked fast results.

When Christopher jumped down onto the train tracks to find Toby, tension was built and the shock amongst the audience contrasted well with Christopher's calmness and obliviousness. This in turn showed his isolation and inability to be independent. But simultaneously, although he took a risk, Christopher was not hurt or effected, so perhaps he was more capable than the audience thought initially.

Other stand-out Moments

- Writing on the floor and this being projected on to the back screen: was visible for all the audience to see so the position in the theatre was irrelevant. Showed how he liked to map things out and draw things to visually show them - another insight into his brain and way of thinking. Diagrams were often drawn to reinforce this, also relating back to his mathematical way of thinking.

- Shevon: white clothing represented peacefulness and 'guardian angel', her narration symbolised how Christopher can rely on her to communicate what he cannot. The voice over showed that even in her absence, Shevon resonates with Christopher and this reinforces the idea of a guardian angel and trust. Links back to train scene, building the tracks whilst talking to Shevon could symbolise the trust-building in their relationship.

- Hand reaching out - human contact, comfort and only happened with his mum and dad to show unconditional love and understanding. (created emotion)

- Walking on walls (ladder) - great use of space, created a 'bird's eye view' which was visually dynamic and exciting to watch, making the possible impossible, (climbing on the walls and defining gravity).

- Ending "does this mean I can do anything?" - the question was left unanswered which allowed the audience to have their own interpretation. Christopher achieved so much despite his autism, so can he do anything? Or will his autism always hold him back? I liked the questions that were left for the audience to answer because it allowed the story to mean something different to everyone.