Christopher’s Adventure

review by Tammy Nguyen

            Adam Langdon, who plays ‘Christopher’, and his acrobatic skills is one of the many things that will impress you after you watch The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, a play that was adapted by Simon Stephens from a book written by Mark Haddon. The play heightens your senses, is visually exciting, and is incredibly relatable, which is hard to do when you are portraying a mentally ill character. This play, rightfully so, is a five-time Tony Award-wining production and continue to wow audiences.

            The play wasn’t afraid to make a shocking first impression; when you first take your seat, you are greeted with a fake, stuffed dog lying in the middle of the stage with a garden fork sticking out from its side. The stage is composed of four large electronic screens that look like graph paper. When it starts, the house lights come down and red dots on the corner of the graph paper-like squares flashes rapidly and suspenseful music comes on, making you unconsciously hold your breath. Throughout the whole play, there are glowing cubes, sound effects, images, and videos projected onto the screens as a way to express what is going on in Christopher’s mind. It is visually stimulating and exhilarating, and it draws you in more and more. The set is clever and detailed; everything serves a purpose. For instance, while other characters are talking, Christopher would build train tracks and then put them away. He does this several times and the audience assumes that it is just autistic behavior, but in the end, the train tracks come to life and the train actually moves.

            While the actors are undoubtedly excellent in their portrayal of the characters, Adam Langdon, in the role of ‘Christopher’, makes the whole play shine. He is persistent in his acting – talking the same way the whole time, twitching his head or his entire body, showing emotions purely by the volume of his voice, and much more. He is brilliant in developing ‘Christopher’ in a way that makes the audience root for the character and want to see him succeed, and that is one of the major factors that make up a good story.

            The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is an overall excellent play that will captivate the younger age groups for its fascinating technology and the older age groups for having a story that is incredibly relatable and emotional.