The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a play based on the novel written by Mark Haddon. It was adapted into a play by Simon Stephens and is currently being shown at the Gielgud Theatre in London. The first thing I noticed when entering the Gielgud Theatre was how big it was. The stage itself was very large, and was a proscenium arch, meaning that the audience faces the stage straight-on. The very unique thing about this stage was that the back wall was a giant cube-like math grid. Both the back wall and the floor of the stage were technological grids that could light up, creating patterns and images. This stage was very relevant to the play, because it used illustrations to help us visualize what Christopher was experiencing.
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The narrator’s italicized text made it more helpful for me to know exactly what was going on. Instead of just watching the play and interpreting, when reading the play, the narrator’s text tells you exactly what is happening. However, unlike most plays, I actually understood the play as a whole a little better after watching the live production. This is because the advanced illustration that I discussed previously, allowed me to actually see and feel how Christopher’s mind worked. Simply reading the play, I was just reading words and left to interpret it myself. However, watching the play I was able to witness how Christopher moved, how he talked, what he dreamt of (being in outer space), and what he looked like when he had …show more content…
It starts with doing detective work to try to figure out who killed Wellington the dog, then evolves into a deeper mystery of what happened to his mother. It escalates into a journey to go find and live with his mother, traveling alone for the first time ever. After moving in with his mother, Christopher faces the possibility of not being able to take his Math exams, and then actually is challenged with the exam itself. All of Christopher’s challenges throughout the play are only amplified and that much harder to overcome, because of his condition. Christopher faces many challenges ordinary children do not, such as his lack of empathy, difficulty to understand non-verbal communication, and need for order and quiet. The theme of the play is not only about an Autistic child achieving his small goals, but also about being able to live in the world in general through a different pair of lenses. It touches upon understanding other’s differences and examines some of the challenges of parenting such a child. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this play. It really made me more aware of not only what it must feel like for people with Autism to function in society, but also the patience it takes to be a parent of an Autistic
The narrator’s italicized text made it more helpful for me to know exactly what was going on. Instead of just watching the play and interpreting, when reading the play, the narrator’s text tells you exactly what is happening. However, unlike most plays, I actually understood the play as a whole a little better after watching the live production. This is because the advanced illustration that I discussed previously, allowed me to actually see and feel how Christopher’s mind worked. Simply reading the play, I was just reading words and left to interpret it myself. However, watching the play I was able to witness how Christopher moved, how he talked, what he dreamt of (being in outer space), and what he looked like when he had …show more content…
It starts with doing detective work to try to figure out who killed Wellington the dog, then evolves into a deeper mystery of what happened to his mother. It escalates into a journey to go find and live with his mother, traveling alone for the first time ever. After moving in with his mother, Christopher faces the possibility of not being able to take his Math exams, and then actually is challenged with the exam itself. All of Christopher’s challenges throughout the play are only amplified and that much harder to overcome, because of his condition. Christopher faces many challenges ordinary children do not, such as his lack of empathy, difficulty to understand non-verbal communication, and need for order and quiet. The theme of the play is not only about an Autistic child achieving his small goals, but also about being able to live in the world in general through a different pair of lenses. It touches upon understanding other’s differences and examines some of the challenges of parenting such a child. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this play. It really made me more aware of not only what it must feel like for people with Autism to function in society, but also the patience it takes to be a parent of an Autistic