THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME

Photo: Johan Persson

Read the book, seen the play (twice) and love everything about this, in my view, very important piece of work. Mark Haddon’s book took the lid off pre-conceptions about people who are living with neurodivergence. For way too many years there had, has and still is a lack of understanding about the fact that all of our brains are “wired differently”. Once not talked about, these facts of modern life are now so much more freely and openly discussed and that is of course all so much better, so much more understanding.

The book and the play have certainly played a part in all this and judging from the reaction of the audience, a packed house with a great many young adults, it really hits home – and rightly so. That said it still bothers me that audiences snigger at the use of the “F” word which can spoil its impact, it’s not just young people, it’s people of asll ages!

So it is only fair to say that I came to this new production with great expectations and undoubtedly preconceptions, rightly or wrongly so, it’s hard to wipe clean what has been read or seen before. I only wish that were not true. In this new version the central character of teenage Chris is female. As far as I am concerned this gender switch is of littler significance, in fact it perhaps highlights that autism is not gender bound. Alex Keenan is Chris and her portrayal is intense and impassioned, with the recognisable traits that can be seen in some neurodivergent people, the lack of eye contact, the rolling of those eyes backward. It’s done with authenticity but it is a marker that is not universal.

Alex Keenan: Photo Johan Persson

Chris is clever, very clever indeed, high functioning used to be the term applied which seems wholly wrong now, especially as we as society embrace difference more openly. This is what this piece is really about, it is as much about us as it is about Chris and even with my following misgivings it remains an important piece of work. It is also appropriate that the gender swap shines a light on the fact that mathematics and the sciences are not the sole domain of males!

So now those misgivings, and as ever, these are my personal views. Chris lives in a world where her fractured family are keeping secrets, a father hoping to protect her with lies and mother who has run away and abandoned her with no explanation. That is an element that is not well explored. And one that leaves Charlie Brooks little to work with, has Judy run away with a lover or is it that she simply cannot cope with being parent to Chris?

Joe McFadden is a father left to deal with things, hurt, damaged by being abandoned for another man and barely coping with his life. He has much more to work with and he makes it work in an effectively understated performance that sits well in the whole.

The part of Siobahn is played by Bridgette Amofah, a calming teacher figure/narrator and a second voice whose place is initially a little confusing but as the story unfolds becomes clearer and adds to the whole.

Around Chris are the boggling complexities of the modern world, the people that she encounters, teachers, well meaning neighbours, police men and women, added to this busy streets and busybodies, trains, underground trains, ATMs, ticket offices… this list goes on and on and is represented by a cast of choreographed tumbling actors playing multiple roles, and a busy clutter of props and projections. Without referring to previous productions here we get the frenetic world inside of Chris being played out by a cast of excellent players sometimes in tracksuits, at other times in character costumes against a set and projections that have the look of that kids TV show Play School, all pastel hues and simplistic shapes, a world aimed at pre-school and infants – and not one for a supremely intelligent teenager. And maybe the intention is to highlight the fact that so many people wrongly treat people with neurodivergence as if they are babies or indeed stupid, but if that is so then for me it did not work.

I wanted so much to like this more, I think this is such an important piece and even in this version, which I have issues with, it retains that importance and those much needed messages. It really should be seen by all generations so that we as a society gain better understanding and respect for difference.

Andrew Kay

30 September

Theatre Royal Brighton

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