The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

On a warm summer's evening we approached the entrance door and could see that this was not going to be a run of the mill performance. The staging was in the round, two banks of seats around the perimeter with just a couple of entrances and exits with the floor covered and painted to depict an astrological set up with stages of the moon's traverse painted around the edge. Chesil Theatre is a converted twelfth century church and space is limited, they really do make the best of their limitations so very well.

We took our seats and sat in this most atmospheric auditorium. The story tells the trials and tribulations of Christine, a heavily autistic young individual and her way of dealing with the separation of her parents, and the discovery of next door's dog (Wellington) dead with a garden fork through its side. 

Christine was played by Daisy Norwood in one of the most phenomenal performances have ever seen from any individual, amateur, professional or otherwise. Her characterisation, ticks, body language, speech delivery and overall attitude to all the aspects of autism was astonishing - quite breathtaking. How she kept in character for the entire show (and mini encore) was outstanding. She was though brilliantly backed up by the entire cast, Marcus Whitfield as the dad, Ed, Helen Milton-Symes as her mum Judy, and Katy Watkins as Siobhan - well all of them actually. This cannot have been an easy show to rehearse, such were the minutia that needed to be included, however Tom Humphreys really succeeded in delivering his vision and the whole cast had obviously bought into this to deliver an extraordinary evening.

There were no scene changes as such, just the fantastic and slick movement of boxes, chairs, and bags all carried out by the whole cast. I would think that Steve Clark as stage manager and his crew had their work cut out. They were seamless, along with the choreographed movements in changing scenes form houses to trains, to stations, to the bustle of the big city: far too many to mention, but they were so well put together by Hannah Ley and her team, the obvious hard work that had gone into this was beyond a normal reherasal schedule. Very, very professional. The lighting was very well designed and programmed by Alec Walters, it added to the whole atmosphere of the piece and the music and sound equally complimented this exceptional performance. The diction equally was of a good quality, if any words were dropped you wouldn't know. 

I have had the privilege of coming to Chesil Theatre's productions for over a decade, since becoming a NODA Rep, and have seen some brilliant shows here, however the impact and delivery of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time  is up there (and beyond). Bravo Tom and the cast, bravo to Chesil Theatre.

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