KWC shows Ambition with Recent Production of The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-time

The first thing that pops into my head when I think about ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’ is my ex-boyfriend (yeah, you Barry) never agreeing to go see a West End show with me during our time together. Then mere WEEKS after we broke up, a picture emerged on Facebook showing he’d had a change of heart and a change of girlfriend, who he’d been happily snapped with in London outside the theatre after going to see The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-time. Whatever, I’M OVER IT. Anyway, hearing that King William’s College was putting on the same production, I figured it was a chance for some Catharism.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is based on the award-winning book of the same title by Mark Haddon and follows the story of 15-year-old boy Christopher who (though not formally mentioned in the novel) has autism or Asperger’s syndrome. The play opens with him discovering the corpse of his neighbour’s dog after it’s been skewered with a pitchfork. Christopher then takes it upon himself to investigate and find out who murdered Wellington (the dog) and ends up uncovering a lot more about his own family in the process. I’ll leave it at that as I don’t want to give away any spoilers. There is major tea though, with Christopher having to navigate all the emotions that come with these discoveries while also prepping for an A Level maths exam and finding people confusing.

I watched the opening night of KWC’s version of the show. If you haven’t been to the theatre at the school, I’d suggest rectifying that. After walking across a moonlit courtyard, there’s a wonderfully grand flight of stairs you go up that I’d half expect Leonardo DiCaprio to be stood at the top of offering a hand out to me like at the end of Titanic. This takes you into a quaint theatre which has a warm, intimate feel about it.

Walking in, I was immediately intrigued – CURIOUS, to be apt – by the staging; billowing white sheets hung from the ceiling and draped the back of the stage. They would end up playing a key role in the production. Throughout the play, images were projected onto them in a way that transported the audience to the location of the scenes and used to symbolise Christopher’s emotional distress, done brilliantly through bright, flashing colours. From start to finish, the tech in the show (courtesy of tech team Paul and Charles) was ambitiously impressive.

The main role of Christopher was played by Harrison S. I was making notes throughout the performance and looking back through my notepad to write this review I realised I had written on four separate occasions ‘main boy has great comedic timing.’ He knocked his performance of Christopher out of the park. His line delivery was completely believable, as was his ability to display misunderstanding and emotional distress, which contrasted his comedic delivery brilliantly. Elsewhere, Alice H who played Siobhan, Christopher’s teacher, had a great stage presence. One that’s calm and steady, it’s a quality that makes the audience feel safe whenever she’s on stage. Christopher’s mum, Judy, played by Millie C displays a similar quality. Her portrayal of sadness is quiet yet palpable throughout the show, showing maturity in her performance.

The whole show was minimal but technical, each aspect balancing the other nicely and making the production ambitious in a way that highlights the calibre and experience of its directors, Miss Molyneux and Mr Dawson. The majority of the cast sat on either side of the stage for the show’s entirety. There are minimal costumes – most of the cast is dressed in black – and minimal props. To make up for this, the cast performed as much physical theatre as they did straight acting, which gave the play a lovely dance-like quality – I loved the scene when the cast pick Christopher up to imitate him flying through space – while also being raw bare-bones theatre – Amy L and Artemiy S’s portrayal of a cash point was excellently convincing.

There was no interval but no need for one. The production moved at a swift pace, each scene bringing charm, humour, or tension with the final line exposing the message at the heart of the play being delivered in heart-breaking yet beautiful fashion.

The show displayed the full spectrum of feelings and emotions – fear, anger, frustration, love, humour and many more – all through a character who struggled to understand them. And as an audience member, I felt them all. Each amplified by the creatively fantastic use of tech. It’s also worth noting that I, along with much of the rest of the audience, laughed out loud during the show on more than a couple of occasions. I left feeling moved and impressed. The three-night run ended last week, so if you didn’t end up seeing it you may be feeling how I felt when my ex Barry DIDN’T TAKE ME TO THE THEATRE but hopefully you can visualise it vicariously through this review. Which is more than Barry ever did for me. Idiot.

Honourable moment mentions:

– The Reverend played by Sean C, who played multiple other small characters and gifted each one with a different accent from Northern Irish to combine harvester. Also another young actor with great comedic timing, particularly when delivering ‘well, I’m excited anyway.’

– Amy L’s portrayal of the biscuit-loving neighbour.

– The scenes between Christopher’s Dad, Ed, played by Martin V and Christopher where they’re sat on the ground, talking side-by-side together.

– The collective effort of the whole cast to portray both the train station and tube station scenes without props. With the accompaniment of projections and recorded announcements by the cast I felt completely transported.

– The actors who displayed a human frisbee game.

– The letter scene. A highlight. It was like that scene in the first Harry Potter film where Harry’s being pelted with hundreds of letters from Hogwarts but seems incapable of catching one. They’re everywhere Harry, you have opposable thumbs, USE THEM.

– Slick transitions between scenes with lighting and sound that made me feel like I was in a trendy club in the 90s. Not that I’d be cool enough to get in.

PHOTO CRED: Mike Bonner