Review: 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' National Tour

Hartford, CT - The National Theatre production of ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’ stopped in Hartford during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day to close out 2016 and ring in 2017 at the beautiful Bushnell Theater. It is rare for the theater to have their doors open for a Broadway tour during this time, but they did not want their audiences to miss this dazzling production. The play is directed by Marianne Elliott.

This Tony Award-winning Best Play is adapted by Simon Stephens from Mark Haddon’s 2003 best selling novel with the same cumbersome title. We watch Christopher as he interacts with the (often loud) world around him in his own unique way. While a diagnosis of autism spectrum is not specifically mentioned in the play or the novel, the brilliant fifteen-year-old teen has significant sensitivity issue that are imaginatively presented so that the audience is effectively brought into his often-confusing world. He is clearly exceptionally intelligent but has great difficulty interpreting everyday life, and is enrolled in a special school that is in the process of teaching him the life skills he obviously needs. When he falls under suspicion for killing his neighbor’s large dog, he bravely tries to identify the real culprit; this leads to a shocking discovery and an unlikely journey that changes his life forever.

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This was a thinking person’s play that was fully immersive. Patrons familiar with the book enjoyed seeing how the artistic team brought some of the more difficult parts to the stage. I was able to put the pieces together without having read the novel and only missed one plot point that may have been intentionally eliminated or downplayed.

The Bushnell has adjusted the Saturday curtain times for this production to get everyone out early in time for New Year's Eve festivities: 1:00 and 6:30 p.m. shows this Saturday, December 31.

Photo courtesy of the Bushnell Theater