This particular production by The National Theatre has been met with high acclaim from young, old, learned, and the not-so, from the very first outing of this particular production in August 2012, right up until the present. It has toured a couple of times already, and been a staple of many a school exam syllabus; and yet I had always missed it. It was time to set the record straight, and see for myself what all the hype, or otherwise, was about.
The play is based on the book of the same name by Mark Haddon, and in this production, adapted by Simon Stephens and directed by Marianne Elliott, there is a curious mix between the telling of this story - and acknowledging the fact that it is a play and there is an audience, - and it being a play in the conventional sense where we are onlookers through an invisible fourth wall.
The narrative is told mostly, but not exclusively, from the perspective of our protagonist Christopher Boone (played by Davis Breeds). He is a 15 year old school boy who suffers from a very specific form of autism where his sensory perceptors don't function in the same way as ours do. He doesn't like anyone touching him, and will only accept a single hand palm-to-palm greeting; whilst colours and sounds take on different lives of their own within his brain. His brain however, is far advanced mathematically and scientifically than his peers - perhaps even the adults too. The production design goes a long way to try and replicate this to the audience: it is a black cube, fixed with symmetrical geometric squares of lights and lines. Hidden inside this, various doors, cupboards and entrances. The production is a very intelligent and meticulous one; cleverly thought-through, trying to theatricalise a person's cerebral experiences. The lighting, sound, and other effects throughout are well-placed and apt; giving us an approximation of what it must be like to be Christopher, or at least, his brain. My question however, is whether or not this set and design actually was optimum and managed to convey sympathy and understanding to the audience in the best way possible. If I am honest, then I am not sure it did / was. My first concern was the fact that not all of the set was visible from all seats in the audience. In fact you would only see all the set if seated central circle. From my seat the whole of stage left was non-existent and I could not see the floor of the stage either, which proved to be quite an important part of the production design and direction. My second concern is that there were many scene changes, some for only a few lines of dialogue, before moving swifly on to the next without explanation, and I feel there could have been, nay, should have been, something more in the way of stage props. The Brechtian direction of using only a few white wooden boxes to make the set every time, as well as having cast sit at the side of the stage during many parts of the action as silent witnesses to the events, didn't really work for me. Had it been a Fringe Theatre production in a small black-box theatre, this idea would have been superb, and I would have lapped it up. However, this is The National Theatre on tour to major venues, and I felt a little let down by the minimalism.
It is a fully ensemble production too (another Brechtian touch) with interesting and inventive use of corporeal mime and physical theatre. I enjoyed the theatricality of these moments. On the whole though, I am sorry to say that I did not emote with the production in any meaningful way at all. The audience as a whole loved it, and the play gained a standing ovation. - I did enjoy (although did not fully understand) the maths lessons at the end! But for me, there was definitely something missing in this production. I am unable to put my finger on it; but perhaps because it tried to be so many things... a comedy, a drama, a human science lesson, a play, a play-within-a-play, a ballet, a lecture, etc, that it couldn't fully involve me in the way that a play and subject matter of this nature truly should have.
And, something like our protagonist would undoubtedly have done, I was trying to count the number of times the two word phrase, "I promise" was spoken throughout the play. I couldn't, I lost count. There were so many. perhaps there is a meaning / message hidden within that, but if so, perhaps one needs to have read the book in order to find it.
'Curious Incident' is indeed a fascinating and worthy subject; creatively, thoughfully, and sympathetically brought to life by The National Theatre. I loved the puppy..."aah!".
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 8/3/22
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 8/3/22
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