The Most Incredible Sensory Experience in the Theatre

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

review by Heaven Bellamy

                                                                                                                                  

This production's length is no match to the attention that it demands. Immediately, the audience is stricken with the loud beckoning of bass, video game sound effects, and the blasting of bright white dots across each dimension of the cubed stage. Each moment is meticulous with intention which gives the opportunity for the audience to engage their own interpretation of what Christopher experiences as an autistic teenage boy working through issues with his family.

The way that Christopher struggles through his moments of sensory overload are executed ingeniously. During his first behavior, an officer touches his shoulder and a blaring noise comes from the speaker, along with a display of aggressive sharp moving lights. The directors of this play certainly took advantage of their ability to use pixel mapping, and EOS Ti. In several scenes, there were images projected onto the walls of the 4 sided cubed stage. This created an environment where the audience was able to experience how Christopher was feeling.

The stage and props were incredible, but the precise choreography for each moment was astounding. There were moments of unison where the cast on stage preform the exact movement, as well as moments where each person is doing a different movement in an effort to create an image on stage.

The story line itself was not as intriguing as the way that it was represented. This might be good because of how packed the show is in its use of props, staging, movement, and pixel mapping. To make the story more interesting might have been overwhelming for the audience, but regardless, the story line is mostly dense with details, instead of context.

The Curios Incident of the Dog in the Night Time is a theatre production that is worth the watch at the Boston Opera House. While the story line is not the best part of the play, it is certainly entertaining enough to support the amazing set design and the varied use of technology.