Winner of 7 Olivier Awards 2013 and 5 Tony Awards 2015, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is one of the most ingenious and compelling plays the West End has ever seen. Following its original sell-out run at the National Theatre’s Cottesloe Theatre (now the Dorfman Theatre), Olivier Award-winning director Marianne Elliott’s highly acclaimed production transferred into the West End in 2013. The play focuses on the unusual Christopher Boone, a fifteen-year-old lad who uses facts, forensics and systemised data (a symptom of his autistic-like behaviour) to launch an investigation into finding the killer of his neighbour’s dog. Using creative choreography and some of the most technologically advanced staging ever seen in the West End, find yourself immersed in Christopher’s world where day-to-day occurrences become momentous challenges, and one’s perception of the world is just a little curious.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time will play its final London performance on 3^rd June 2017. Don’t miss out - book now!

Based on the 2003 novel by Mark Haddon, the play begins with Christopher standing beside the body of a dead dog, Wellington, whose owner is Christopher’s neighbour, Mrs Shears. We discover that the dog has been speared with a garden fork. It is seven minutes after midnight and Christopher is under suspicion. He writes down each fact of the 'case' in the hope of solving the mystery of who murdered Wellington.

Christopher has an extraordinary brain – he’s exceptional at maths but ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. Having never ventured alone beyond the end of his road, he detests being touched and he distrusts strangers. When his detective work takes him to the big city lights of London his world turns upside down.

Will he be able to cope with the bustling, stressful city? And will he be able to piece together the curious circumstances that brought about the unfortunate event?

If you liked Mark Haddon’s award-winning novel you’ll love this very moving and clever adaptation.

Who's in it?

Joseph Ayre leads the cast as Christopher, joined by Jo Castleton, Jaqueline Clarke, Gemma Knight Jones, Penelope McGhie, David Nellist, Amanda Posener, Charleen Quaye, Sarah Stanley, Philip Stewart, Nicolas Tennant, Matthew Trevannion, Ross Waiton and Matt Wilman.

At certain performances the role of Christopher will be played by Thomas Dennis.

Captioned performance 9 April 2016 matinee (Captions will cause minimal distraction to your customers in the Dress Circle and Grand Circle)

Audio Described performance 16 April 2016 matinee (This will not affect anyone)

Signed performance 7 May 2016 matinee (The signer will be visible from the Stalls and front Dress Circle only)

Novelist Mark Haddon has been widely praised by both the general readership and special education professionals for his sensitive portrayal of 'aspergic' Christopher Boone in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. 

However, Haddon is at pains to point out that he is anything but an expert on the subjects of autism and asperger's, and intended to write a human story, not a story about a condition.

"I know very little about the subject," he writes. "I did no research for Curious Incident (other than photographing the interiors of Swindon and Paddington stations). I’d read Oliver Sacks’s essay about [autistic author] Temple Grandin and a handful of newspaper and magazine articles about, or by, people with Asperger’s and autism. 

I deliberately didn’t add to this list. imagination always trumps research. I thought that if I could make Christopher real to me then he’d be real to readers. I gave him some rules to live by and some character traits and opinions, all of which I borrowed from people I know, none of whom would be labelled as having a disability. Judging by the reaction, it seems to have worked.

Curious Incident is not a book about asperger’s. It’s a novel whose central character describes himself as ‘a mathematician with some behavioural difficulties’. Indeed he never uses the words ‘asperger’s’ or ‘autism’...If anything it’s a novel about difference, about being an outsider, about seeing the world in a surprising and revealing way. It’s as much a novel about us as it is about Christopher."

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