Have always absolutely loved the book. Not just because it is such a well written story but the main character Christopher is one of the most relatable (from my experience that is) in literature. Being someone who is autistic myself, and despite having things that come easily to me and have found myself overcoming a lot there is still at least one struggle every day.
My case is not quite as pronounced as Christopher's, yet could still see some of myself in him in especially feeling like an outsider and being treated differently. The play does a fantastic job adapting the book to stage, among the best book to play adaptations personally seen. It opens up the story enough and has enough theatricality while still retaining the book's spirit adeptly. It has all of the humour (hilarious and gentle), sympathetic compassion, poignant emotion and unpredictability of the book, and is every bit as insightful and charming in how the world is seen in the eyes of Christopher. This is an absolute triumph of a production of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time' that will be remembered for a long time. It's productions like this that makes going to the cinema to see the National Theatre Live productions such a pleasure.
Visually, 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time' is very clever and striking. The heavy use of projections could easily have been a distraction but instead looked great and atmospheric and also solved the potential problem of how to do the scene changes without being clumsy or slowing the production down. The London Underground projection was especially harrowing, containing a lot of suspense, and makes me glad that it has never happened to me.
Loved the staging from start to finish, it was never dull and had no touches that came over as questionable or distasteful. It was very funny, very charming, very suspenseful, very poignant and never less than intriguing. Not to mention full of honesty. It was hugely successful in making Christopher a lead character that was more than easily relatable.
Another reason as to why Christopher is so easy to relate to is largely down to the performance of Luke Treadaway, who is just astonishing. Very heartfelt, and it is a performance that neither overdoes or trivialises autism while being an accurate depiction of it. Conflicted Sean Gleason and sympathetic Niamh Cusack are the standouts of the rest of the cast.
In summary, a triumph. 10/10
