Whether or not you have read Mark Haddon's novel, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” this imaginative stage adaptation, originally produced by London's National Theatre, works beautifully as a marvel of stage craft wizardry and high-tech design. More importantly, as a play it can be enjoyed as a mystery thriller with an unusual twist. The 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.
