Ridgeway School, Doncaster – 22 October 2018
Reviewed by Lottie Davis-Browne
4****
Seven years since it first premiered at the Cottesloe theatre (part of the Royal National Theatre), London, The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Night-time – an award winning adaptation of the Mark Haddon novel of the same name – is about to make a long over due return to the West End.
But before that, the company behind the production – National Theatre Company – are currently bringing the West End to various schools to Performing Arts GCSE and A level students – with Wakefield being last weeks venue for visiting various schools and landing in Doncaster from the 22nd October visiting five lucky schools. I was fortunate enough to be invited to my choice of the five selected Doncaster Senior Schools, with Ridgewood High School on the edge of Scawsby being my chosen venue.
When I was a GCSE student we didn’t have much opportunity to watch any live theatre within the School curriculum, nor were the books we read as part of our studies anything near as engrossing as Curious Incident so I it is refreshing to see that times have changed and more is being done to encourage the next generation of teens towards the arts and languages. As part of the tour students were also given the chance to ask the cast and crew questions at the end, plus the opportunity to discuss performing and behind-the-scenes opportunities with Doncaster based Cast (more about Cast later!)
Whilst the usual set design comprises of several visual screens to bring the book to life and give the audience a clearer picture into Christopher’s autistic mind, this particular production was scaled back and performed under bright lights. This was brought up at the end during the Q&A session and this was because of the size of the venue – a purpose built theatre within the school grounds – a fairly new addition to the School – which did not provide the right amount of space needed. This did not deter from the story in anyway shape or form, intact having seen the production at the National Theatre, Apollo Theatre and on tour before, there was something more relaxing about watching a production in clear bright lights.
For those of you unfamiliar with the story, it is play-within-a-play as seen through the eyes of fifteen year old Christopher John Francis Boone; a mathematical genius on the autistic spectrum. Following the mysterious death of his next-door-neighbour (Mrs Shears) dog Wellington. Deciding to turn Detective, he writes his thoughts down in a notebook – which he shares with his teacher Siobhan who reads parts of the book out throughout the production making it a play-within-a-play. Whilst trying to uncover the mystery (whilst comparing himself to Sherlock Holmes) Christopher goes out of his comfort zone to come face to face with the neighbours he has lived on the same street to for years but avoided due to his daily struggles living on the autistic spectrum.
Whilst searching for clues Christopher uncovers a secret and discovers that his father has been lying to him for a couple of years regarding the death of his mother and decides to make the journey from Swindon to London to search for answers. Will Christopher find out the reasons behind his fathers lies? Will he uncover the mystery and true identity and Wellingtons killer? Will he achieve his A level maths A* grade despite taking it two years early?
The cast of eight did a straight run of the production (no usual interval before Christopher decides to head into London) without the usual stunning visual effects which for those who have seen the production before are a real memorable part of the set) but still had the students and myself gripped from start to finish. Whilst there was unfortunately no information as to regards to the cast names, we were given a quick run through who they all were at the start of the Q&A session (sadly much quicker than what I can write!), with the students eager to ask a few questions ranging from the choreography and lighting and about getting into performing. The students were then given the opportunity to discuss becoming involved with Doncaster based Cast, with Director Debbie Rees from the Cast team who also attended today’s performance.
Cast is a purpose built theatre venue in Doncaster which opened in September 2013. Cast have played a huge role in increasing the profile of Doncaster and inspiration within the town. They work hard with partners to bring the World to Doncaster and Doncaster to the World. Cast also have a thriving Youth Theatre with weekly classes for ages 3-18, giving aspiring performers in Doncaster and the surrounding area the chance to learn and develop in a nurturing environment. Of course there is much more to theatre than just performing and Cast aim to offer a variety of experience within all things theatre.
For further information regarding Cast, contact 01302 303 959 or [email protected].
The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night-Time is set to visit a few more schools in Doncaster this week before returning to London at the Piccadilly Theatre from 29th November – 27th April 2019.
I hope that the lucky Year 10, Year 11 and Sixth Form students studying Performing Arts at either GCSE or A Level at Ridgewood School enjoyed this performance as much as I did and I wish them all every success for the future and hope that today’s opportunity has given them some food for thought, and who knows, maybe in a few years time they might be performing as part of the National Theatre at a school near you!