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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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Maxim Adderley as Christopher and Liz Plumpton as Siobhan. Pictures: Christopher Commander The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Sutton Arts Theatre ***** There are rare times when the line between amateur and professional is not only blurred but erased completely and you are just left with the simple magic of theatre. It was a brave decision to take on the award bedecked National Theatre production, a production with seven Oliviers and five Tonys to its name and one creating an audio visual assault on the senses, full of CGI, explosions of LEDs on light projected graph papered walls and floors, all utilising enough computing power to land a man on the moon. Strip all that away though and you are left with a very human story, beautifully told in this magnificnt production which relies on lighting, movement and sound to create the confusion and turmoil in the mind of the main protagonist, Christopher John Francis Boone, aged 15, three months and two days. Strangely Sutton Arts usual theatrical limitations of a stage with no flies and no wings are ideally suited to this highly stylised, superb, black box production. Christopher is described in Mark Haddon’s original novel as "a mathematician with some behavioural difficulties" with Haddon stating his character suffered from no specific condition. Christopher cannot tell lies, sees the world in his own terms of pure logic and has a meltdown if he is touched or his ordered world is threatened. It is a quite stunning performance in what is a physically and emotionally demanding role by Maxim Adderley, a young actor making his way in this most precarious of professions. He becomes Christopher, believable as autistic, having Asperger’s syndrome. . . whatever condition it was that dictated his life as a troubled young man. The play is almost an animated book, Christopher’s own book, read by his teacher Siobhan at his special school, a wonderful performance by Liz Plumpton. Siobhan encourages, supports and guides Christopher, perhaps closer to him than his father or dead mother, a mother only dead to him we are to discover. It creates a play within a play. It starts when Wellington, neighbour Mrs Shears’ dog, is found dead on the lawn skewered by a garden fork. Christopher is at first accused of the crime then sets out detetecting to find the real killer which is to open up a real can of worms – a metaphor Christopher would probably find illogical and confusing as worms don’t come in cans. . .
Richard Clarke as father, Ed trying to make amends while Maxim Adderley's Christopher hides behind his Swiss Army Knife His father Ed, played with a mix of sadness, anger and despair by Richard Clarke, is a long suffering, single parent doing what he hopes is his best with a difficult and different child. He has his own problems beyond bringing up Christopher, although his son might have been the catalyst for that problem as well. It is a problem that spreads to an angry Mrs Shears, with a fury vented by Sarah Stanley – who also takes on the role of a much friendlier Mrs Gascoyne, the head of Christopher's school, who always tells us what we have just been told she tells us. Don’t ask. It is obvious there is more to the relationship with Mrs Shears then we have been told hidden in a past we have yet to discover, a past that has seen Ed paint himself into a corner by first telling Christopher his mother has been taken to hospital then putting the fake icing on that particularly badly baked cake by announcing her demise, a lie told in desperation which is to destroy trust in the truth and logic driven world of Christopher, a situation made worse when Christopher’s detecting mission is solved, with his disconnected logic then putting him in fear of his life. It is Mrs Alexander down the road, a lovely performance from Joanne James, which really puts the cat among the pigeons – Christopher might even see the logic in that metaphor – and sets in train another Christopher project, setting off to find his not as dead as he had been told mum, Judy, played by Jayne Lunn. A troubled journey to London from Swindon follows, with Christopher whose world had never expanded to trains or tubes heading off to find his not as dead as reported mum . . . it's a fraught journey . . . let’s just say among the many words to describe Christopher, streetwise is not one of them. Still, he succeeds to find her. She discovers Ed had not only killed her off but had hidden her two years of letters until they had been found, by accident by Christopher who found letters written months after she supposedly died. Lunn gives us a mother trying to make up for the lost years, trying to make up for her inability to cope with Christopher and his ways, trying to explain escaping with Roger, Roger Shears in case you were wondering, which perhaps provides an answer to an earlier question. Roger, played gruffly and unsympathetically by Rob Laird, has no feeling for Christopher, doesn’t want him around – or his pet rat Toby. The Judy-Roger escape route, it seems, was hardly a satisfactory solution.
Christopher braves the tube with the ensemble behind All Christopher wants is security – and to take his A level in maths. It leaves us with not so much loose ends as disconnected ends as befitting Christopher’s world, but they are ends that time and understanding will bring together as understanding starts to prevail. This is a production that would not look out of place on a professional stage. The ensemble cast, which also includes Anil Patel, Kieran Jenkins and Harriet Gordon, are on stage all the time, becoming shopkeepers, policemen, ticket office staff, drunks, vicars as well as crowds on busy streets, packed trains and tubes as well as inanimate objects such as tables, chairs and coat stands. It is all done almost ballet-like demanding some precision choreography from Louisa Clark, Joanne James, Liz Plumpton and Emily Armstrong and commendable discipline from a well rehearsed cast. A large moon dominates the rear of the stage, emphasising Christopher’s love bordering on obsession with space which also acts as a video screen with projections from Chris Commander and director Faye Hatch. The set, from Mark Natrass and Hatch again, is deceptively simple, a collection of pastel coloured cubes and boxes either side of the stage which are seats for the ensemble or can be positioned to represent anything needed. Lighting design, from Going Dark Theatrical Services, sound and stylised movement all help to create the disconnect and disordered order of Christopher’s world in what is a magical production, beautifully acted by the 10 strong cast and wonderfully directed by Faye Hatch. At its heart we have a story of a young boy with problems in a world he finds difficult and strange but one which he is trying hard to understand to fit into his pure logical view of things; he has a teacher who supports him, she is his sounding board, his friend and, at times, his shield; he has parents trying, and not always succeeding, to do their best, even if at times their decisions are wrong and we have that rare beast, even rarer in amateur theatre, an unmissable production. To 21-09-24. Roger Clarke 12-09-24 Sutton Arts Theatre |
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