Curious Incident

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is Simon Stephens’ adaptation of Mark Haddon’s novel, first staged by the National Theatre in 2012. Marianne Elliott directed, with set design by Bunny Christie, lighting by Paule Constable, movement by Frantic Assembly and video design by FRAY co-founder Finn Ross. It began in the Cottesloe Theatre (now the Dorfman) in the summer of 2012, and its first preview fell on the same day the London Olympic Games opened.

The play follows Christopher Boone, a fifteen-year-old who sees the world in his own very particular way. He discovers that his mother, who he believed was dead, is alive and living in London, and he sets out alone from Swindon to find her. On paper the story is simple. What makes it remarkable is that Christopher lets us see and feel the world the way he does. That was the focus of the video design: to take the audience inside Christopher’s head, and to do it in a way that was sober, never sensational, and always respectful.

Bunny Christie’s set is one giant sheet of graph paper. Christopher loves maths, so the stage became a playground where he could experiment with the world, and everything in it sits neatly on the grid, because that is how Christopher would lay it out. In effect he became a co-designer, and he set the clean, simple rules the show lives by. The projection design stays almost entirely linear, only occasionally drifting into colour and fantasy.

The video lives inside that framework. Grid lines become simple squares to represent houses, or red lines racing across the floor as Christopher tries to map his way through a crowded train station, exactly the kind of place he finds hardest. It can open into a daydream of travelling through space, or into the terror of the London Underground. It is always prompted by Christopher and always responds to him, coming alive when he wants it and fading when he does not. Video also drives lighting fixtures set along key grid lines, which lighting can control too, so the two departments share the same instrument.

From small, low-budget beginnings the production went on to become one of the most awarded plays of its time. Its video design is recognised by a Tony Award, an Olivier Award and a Drama Desk Award: the Olivier for Best Set Design (2013) and the Tony for Best Scenic Design of a Play (2015), both shared by Bunny Christie and Finn Ross, and the Drama Desk for Outstanding Projection Design (2015). The production itself won seven Oliviers, including Best New Play, five Tonys, including Best Play, and many more awards around the world. It ran for more than 1,600 performances in the West End at the Apollo and Gielgud theatres and 800 on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, followed by UK, US and international tours. For many people on the spectrum it was a show that understood them, and it helped those who love them understand a little better. That legacy is what we find most inspiring about the work.