In first place, for now anyway, the most remarkable play this season is, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, based on a 2003 novel by Mark Haddon. Creatively produced and directed by Marianne Elliott (War Horse),its imaginative staging and impressive cast takes your breath away while remaining emotionally evocative. The novel, written for young adults, makes for a fascinating theater production for all ages.
The Curious Incident focuses on an autistic adolescent, Christopher Boone, raised by his father, socially detached but brilliant in math and solving puzzles. Playing Christopher in this British import is Alex Sharp, a recent Juilliard graduate, delivering a searing interpretation, constantly on stage and riveting in his portrayal. The emotionally isolated boy with a pet rat becomes driven by an intense need to find the killer of his neighbor's dog.
Adapted for the stage by Simon Stephens, the story takes shape as a caring teacher at Christopher's school, Siobhan, played by Francesca Faridany, reads aloud from Christopher's journal, encouraging him to turn his book into a play. (She is also helping Christopher reach the A level in Math.)
We follow him on an electrifying journey to first find whoever stabbed the dog. The adventure continues as the boy goes on to search for his mother (Enid Graham), who had left Christopher and his father (Ian Barford) years before. His skill in solving puzzles leads him on a harrowing trip from his suburban home to London, blurring his mind and traumatizing him with astounding sights and sounds, an oncoming train, jostling crowds, strange streets. His mind reaches through the universe, sending him tumbling with fear and disorientation, dramatized on Bunny Christie's versatile geometric box set, lined with graph paper. Watching Christopher tumbling, walking and climbing through space is gripping, heightened by the effects of Paule Constable's flashing lights, blaring noise by Ian Dickinson and Finn Ross's multiple videos. The design team in the show goes all out with Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett choreographing dizzying effects of putting Christopher mid-air or walking up a wall.
The boy strains to focus on finding order in this confusion by concentrating on Siobhan's suggestions of counting the rhythm or reciting prime numbers to infinity. "I find people confusing," he says.
While Sharp's portrayal of Christopher is intense, his facial and physical expressiveness giving a touching humanity, supporting performers are also outstanding, some playing several roles. Raising a boy like Christopher is a strain on a marriage, a point made clear by his parents played by Barford and Graham. They make clear their love for the boy but how draining it has been, Barford often impatient and his estranged wife guilty for abandoning them. One example of Christopher's idiosyncrasies is his fierce distaste for the color yellow, shown by his outrage when a caring neighbor, Mrs. Alexander, played by Helen Carey, offers him some yellow and pink Battenberg Cake.
There is a universality in the plight of this family and their son, and the creative staging brings to their adventure an illuminating perspective, but things don't end when the story comes to its satisfying finish. Stick around for the post-curtain call.
