Cracking the code of human emotion

Christopher (Kai Brummer) describes himself as a maths whizz with some behavioural difficulties. He lives in Swindon with his father, Ed (Ashley Dowds), next door to Mrs Shears (Kate Normington).

His world is ordered, he relishes time alone, he doesn’t speak to strangers and he doesn’t like to be touched.

When he discovers Mrs Shears’ dog, Wellington, dead with a garden fork sticking out of him – he decides that, like his literary favourite Sherlock Holmes, he must investigate.

Thus begins Simon Stephens’ adaptation of Mark Haddon’s 2003 best-selling, award-winning book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. The book, which won 17 literary awards, was considered unadaptable for the stage by the author, but Stephens has done an inspired job and his adaptation has been masterfully interpreted for our stages by veteran director Paul Warwick Griffin.

Griffin’s staging is a large white backdrop with a screen, a set of stairs, lights and hidden doors, there are also eight white crates on as raised white stage that the cast of 10 move around as the action proceeds. Throughout the play most of the cast members are on stage at all times, moving through the characters in Christopher’s story.

One of the staging difficulties is the book is written in the first person and it is tricky to have a character constantly talking in monologues, the solution is that Christopher’s teacher, Siobhan (Lesoko Seabe), reads chucks of the story. It is a clever device, as is the cast who step in and out of the story as Christopher logically and literally follows the clues.

Siobhan helps Christopher hold it together, it is her voice that he hears when the world spins out of his careful control. He loves maths because it follows the rules, human beings don’t and this is the code Christopher must crack on his journey – emotion and how it moulds behaviour.

The cast is on stage at all times as Christopher navigates his way through the bewildering case of who killed Wellington, the dog.

For Christopher investigating Wellington’s death is the start of a revelatory journey that takes him far out of his comfort zone. Christopher feels no empathy, yet this story builds empathy among the audience for people like Christopher. People who find social norms and manners peculiar, people who can’t understand why those around him talk in metaphors when they could just say what they mean. Christopher always tells the truth, he always says what he means and this upsets the equilibrium of those around him.

The cast members work together like a well-oiled machine and though Brummer carries the largest part, the sum of all the others are what make this such a powerful piece of theatre.

Theatre builds empathy and helps people step into the realities of others, this engaging and smart production does that so well. It is almost three hours end to end, and it is a well-spent three hours – especially if you have children studying the book, which has become a school setwork.

	Gayle Edmunds Managing editor City Press p: +27 (0) 11 713 9001 w: www.citypress.co.za  e: gedmunds@citypress.co.za
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