play review

Paige Borowski

IB Lit and Performance SL

11/19/19

My Thoughts

On Saturday, November 16, 2019, I viewed the play “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” Witten by Simon Stephens. I watched it at Cheshire Academy in the black box theater. The main actors in the play were “Amelia Williams, Olivia Williamson, Willjam Lempling, Pacifica Yang and Ben Goth. Amelia played Christopher, Olivia played Siobahn, Willjam played Ed, Pacifica played Judy and Ben played Roger. 

The play is about a boy named Christopher who suffers from autism. The play starts out with Christopher next to a dead dog, impaled with a garden fork. Throughout the play, Christophers teacher, Siobahn, reads Christophers book which outlines the events of the play. When Christopher finds the dead dog, he wants to find the murderer. His father, Ed, tells his not to. Along the way, we find out that Christopher's mother, Judy, is dead. Christopher finds himself dealing with a lot of conflict between himself and his father. When going through Eds stuff, Christopher discovers notes revealing that Judy is still alive. Part one ends with Christopher planning on going to London to find his mother. In part two, he does. When he finds her, Roger gets angry. Judy and Christopher go back home in order to escape Roger. It is then that he takes his A level maths exam. In the last scene between Christopher and Siobahn, we find out that Christopher is mending things up with his father and growing closer to his mother. He passes his A level and has plenty of goals for the future. He ends off by asking the audience a question, “Does that mean I can do anything?”

The biggest thing I noticed when watching the play was that Christopher seemed to always be in the center. I think the lighting agreed with that as well. It showed me that Christopher is the protagonist and the most important part of the play. It showed how the whole play was centered around Christopher and his experiences through it. Another thing I noticed was that the lighting often set the mood as well. The floor was lined with blue lights. To me, I see that as showing that Christopher has had a hard, sad life. They often use the color blue to light up the stage, especially in sad moments. It helps portray the emotion of the scenes. 

The most impactful scene in the play was when Christopher figured out his mother wasn’t dead, got upset, then Ed found Christopher with the letters. What was so impactful was the portrayal of the scene. The actors did an amazing job pushing the emotions onto the audience. It really showed how learning that Ed lied to Christopher really hurt Christopher and made him angry, sad and confused. When Ed came in, he truly seemed scared and sad that Christopher found out. The sense of panic was translated perfectly as well. 

I was most impressed with Amelia and her performance. It was incredible the way she was able to portray Christopher and his autism. I wouldn’t think it’s an easy task, especially with a character like Christopher. He often has freakouts and screams or groans. Amelia did an amazing job portraying the frustration the Christopher often dealt with. She was able to show how Christopher thought and interacted with other people. A big part of her being amazing was her confidence on stage and how she didn’t hold back with the screams or tantrums. She effectively added intensity to the scenes. 

I enjoyed the play very much. With the amazing acting and the great lighting and sound, I was constantly happy. The play was so much more enjoyable when seen in actions rather than being read. I’m glad I was able to see this play.