Stage Review - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Tacoma Little Theatre)

Stage Review - The Curious Incident of the Dog int he Night-Time
Presented By: Tacoma Little Theatre - Tacoma, WA
Show Run: January 24 - February 09, 2025
Date Reviewed: Sunday, January 26, 2025 (Opening Weekend)
Run Time: 2 Hours (including a 15 minute intermission)
Reviewed By: Greg Heilman

If there is any play that, as an adaptation, varies in the way it tells its story from the source material on which it’s based as much as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, I haven’t seen it. Both the novel, written by Mark Haddon and published in 2003, and the play, having premiered in 2012 at the Royal National Theatre in England, tell the story of 15-year old Christopher Boone, living alone with his widowed father, his mother having died two years prior to the events in the novel and at the beginning of the play from a heart attack. Christopher is autistic, or at least it’s implied. It’s never really stated that he is anything other than neurodivergent, and as we know, that can cover any number of areas on the behavioral spectrum. In each case, the event which kicks the drama into action is Chris’ discovery of neighbor Mrs. Shears’ dog having been stabbed to death with a garden fork. Chris is so moved by the event that he takes it upon himself to find the culprit, his own bit of Sherlock Holmes detective work, interesting in itself as the title of the book (and play) comes from an observation by Holmes in one of his stories. It turns out, though, that the incident of the dog in the night-time isn’t the only mystery that Chris is called upon to solve, and while the novel tells the story as a first person account, from the boy’s point of view, the play takes that writing and presents it as a kind of play within a play, narrated by Chris’ teacher, Siobhan, and acted out by Chris, his father, his mother in flashbacks and other scenes, and the “voices”, six actors who take turns representing Chris’ emotions and otherwise acting out parts that are important to the retelling of his tale. While the novel is straightforward, the play can be viewed as a bit more avant garde, or at the very least a supremely creative way to tell the story. And there’s nothing that Artistic Director Chris Serface and his team at Tacoma Little Theatre like more than producing shows that tell stories in their own unique and creative way. If the shoe fits, and it does, wear it, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time can be found on the TLT stage through February 9, in a production directed by Suzy Willhoft, and featuring Brad Alemao as Christopher Boone, along with a brilliant scenic design from Blake R. York and Jen York.

Scenic designs for this play have a lot in common, they usually play into Chris’ love of mathematics and are typically geometric, with no real set pieces other than cubes that are stacked to resemble what would otherwise be used as furniture or other physical objects. Additionally, projections and lighting are used to provide an immersive experience for the audience or to complement the story. In the Tacoma Little Theatre production, one of the theatre’s best assets is used extensively in the telling, its modular LED screen, deployed for the first time that I’ve seen in a curved configuration, a semi-circle around the back and sides of the stage. The screen is used to show location, including Chris’ school, his home, a train station, the street, or any number of other places, and it does so with images that brilliantly resemble blueprint drawings in their style, though the highlight of its use is when it shows motion, like when Chris is looking for a train station and the screen is used to present his movement through town until he reaches his destination. In this abstract scenic design, there is a lot of symbolism, the cubes and the digital screen are used to provide much of it, but Jacob Viramontes’ lighting does that as well, an example being in a rough time for Chris, after finding a series of letters in a box in his father’s closet that turns his life upside down, Jacob fills the stage with yellow lighting after it’s been established that yellow is one of the colors that Chris despises. Dylan Twiner’s sound design supports the overall mood with sweeping tones that make the audience almost feel as thought they are floating through outer space, a calming undercurrent to contrast the emotional thunderstorm onstage.

That emotional thunderstorm is the result of some very fine acting, led by Brad Alemao as Christopher and Mitchell Diehr as his father Ed struggling with the loss of his wife and being the sole caregiver to a son whose upbringing comes with a unique set of challenges, and requiring a ton of patience, something that is in short supply, starting after Chris ends up at the police station upon striking a police officer after the officer touches the boy in order to pull him away from Wellington, the deceased dog, and building after Chris finds those letters in Ed’s closet that shakes up both of their lives, exposing a secret neither are ready to face and putting into jeopardy any faith that Chris had in his father. The role of Chris requires so much emotional energy from Brad, and much of it reactionary to stimuli that neurotypical actors may not be inherently familiar with, but he handles the role with great prowess. His reactions need to be immediate, and they are, his timing just about perfect, but as the story isn’t really about his character’s neurodivergence, it’s more about just being different, being convinced that you should be relegated to a particular box and challenging yourself to fight your way out of that box to develop your own identity. Brad works his character through these challenges, displaying the fear Chris has at every new challenge, from interviewing neighbors about the incident with the dog in the night-time, to traveling to London on his own as a result of the secondary mystery he uncovers in the story, involving his father and his recently deceased mother. As Chris conquers each challenge, his confidence grows until he realizes that he can do, or be, anything he sets his sights on. It’s a gradual growth, and Brad shows a great deal of ability in how he presents it in his portrayal of Chris. At the same time, Mitchell as Ed is the overworked single-father, who has to deal with his frustration getting the better of him, as it turns to anger, then regret, all the while with a love for his son, which is at the heart of all of those other emotions. Parenting is, after all, a layered and complicated occupation, and it’s represented very well not just in how playwright Simon Stephens has constructed the character, but also how Mitchell plays him, and how Ed is contrasted with Judy, played here in flashbacks and other scenes by Michelle Patrick. Michelle’s Judy is a little more distant, not as involved as Ed, still with a great deal of love for her son, but clearly not confident in her ability to care for him, keeping him at arm’s length. Michelle does a nice job with this colder version of parenting, contrasting to the more involved, and more emotional Mitchell as Ed.

The “voices”, the ensemble of six actors who have two responsibilities in the play, the thoughts and emotions of Chris as part of this avant garde storytelling, and as specific characters in the telling of his story, are Andrea Weston-Smart, Grant E. McGee, Evan Dyck, Ludovico Capponi, Alexandria Melville, and Shivani Ludwig. As the ensemble of “voices”, they’re quite good, and much of that comes down to their movement, under the direction of Brookelyne Peterson, who isn’t just the movement coach, but also the fight choreographer and accent coach for the production, which is smooth and well paced. The best example of their work in these roles is right after Ed comes home and tells Chris about his mother’s death. As Chris goes through his motions and actions right after that, each of the ensemble actors mimics them as he performs the acts, moving gracefully, smoothly, and artfully. In their other roles, playing characters as part of Chris’ story, each of the actors has a chance to bring something good to the show. For instance, in her various roles, Alexandria’s ability to handle different English dialects is very good, seemingly different for each scene, while Andrea is very good as both Mrs. Shears, owner of the titular victim of the initial incident, the first of many who push Chris away in his investigation into the canine’s death, and a math teacher at Chris’ school, a smaller role, but a more humorous one. Shivani is the one neighbor who does seem supportive of Chris, in fact some of the information she gives him about his own family sets him on a path that leads to the second mystery he needs to solve in the play, and Grant plays Mr. Shears, the grumpy more self-centered spouse of Andrea’s character who is in the middle of that other mystery. Each of the actors shows their agility in stepping out of their ensemble role and into their more character-specific ones, each role requiring a change into one of Heidi Walworth-Horn’s costumes, specific to the role played, and each nicely done. The only note I have on the costuming has to do with a flashback scene, where Chris is recalling a day he was at the beach with his mother, a scene in which he describes what his mother was wearing, though when Michelle steps on a pedestal on stage to represent the visual piece of the flashback, what she’s wearing doesn’t match up with what’s being described. Otherwise, the creative team does a very nice job here.

There’s one more character to mention, an important one in the context of how the story is told in the play, and that’s Siobhan, Chris’ para-professional at school and mentor, the one whom he goes to with all of his inner thoughts, concerns, and hopes. Siobhan is also the only one he trusts with his story, the story of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the story that he is writing and that is being acted out on stage as she reads it, making her the de facto narrator. Levin plays Siobhan here and the voice they play her with is one that is steady and calming as Chris’ mentor, and confident and strong as the show’s narrator. Levin’s Siobhan is at times the only champion that Chris has, determined to help him not just with his story, but by encouraging him in his A-level math tests, something even his family is not entirely behind. Levin lends a warm personality to this aspect of the role, making it overall a solid piece of acting.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is known for a few things, notably it’s account of a neurodivergent teenager living with his single father and learning how to break out of his shell, building his confidence to realize that, contrary to what he’s come to believe, he can do or be anything. The play is also known for its unique, avant garde storytelling, which includes a creative scenic design and the use of lights, sound, and projections to present this play within a play. Tacoma Little Theatre, always up for presenting shows in unique ways, has taken what is good about The Curious Incident, and made it even better, with a design that takes full advantage of the tools at TLT’s disposal, and a cast that understands the emotional energy that the show requires, and has the talent to deliver it. The result of this combination is first-rate version of The Curious Incident, with an emotional tide that ebbs and flows, but leaves the audience feeling that, at the end of the day, it could really be true that anything is possible. And these days, that’s a good thing to hear.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time runs on stage at Tacoma Little Theatre through February 9. For more information, including ticket availability and sales, visit https://www.tacomalittletheatre.com/.

Photo credit: Dennis K. Photography