The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, based on Mark Haddon’s book, was the show run by West Po theater’s Beyond the Page company from February 1st to February 10th. It was marketed promising to immerse the audience with “mesmerizing projections, dynamic lighting, and evocative soundscapes.”
The show centered on a 15-year-old kid named Christopher Boone (played by Basleel Dimessa), who lives in Swindon, England, with his dad (played by Antonio Amaral). Christopher is autistic and has specific fixations that sometimes irritate those around him, including his dad. When he finds a neighbor’s dog killed, Christopher takes it upon himself to discover who did it. Christopher’s journey of self-fulfillment leads him to discover secrets about his family’s past, but also tests his relationships with those closest to him.
One of the first few things that stuck out to me about the show were the light-up cubes that were scattered around the stage. Each cube wasn’t more than 2 feet tall, and the cast and crew stacked them and moved them around to represent different aspects of the setting. They would be arranged in rows to look like seats in a train scene, for example. The constantly moving and color-changing cubes helped to freshen up a stage that stayed mostly the same throughout the whole show.
I knew from the book that everyone was supposed to be British, but I never expected the actors to use British accents in the play. While it took getting used to, I couldn’t help but be impressed by the end that the actors were able to keep it up the whole time. These added touches like the lighting, cubes, and the accents, of course, helped to not break the immersion of the show.
“I had never read the book, so I didn’t know what to expect,” junior Pietro Marchetto said. “In particular, I thought the cubes [were] a smart idea… it was pretty visually captivating.”
The play didn’t go over as well for everyone though.
“Even with the best intentions, [the performance] can kind of look like you’re mocking autistic people,” senior Riley Keogh stated. “I really didn’t like that element of the show, especially because I have a personal connection with someone who’s autistic.”
Keogh then clarified she didn’t have an issue with the specific performance per se, but more so that the act of impersonating an autistic person was something she felt should not be done, especially not within the context of a high school play.
After all was said and done, the theater department once again used their last showing as an opportunity to auction off a poster of the show signed by the cast and crew, and advertised their spring musical, Kinky Boots.
