It’s returns and day seats only for Simon Stephens’ first class stage adaptation of Mark Haddon’s bestselling novel. Stephens has turned the book into a potential play within a play in which
sympathetic teacher Siobhan (an almost angelic Niamh Cusack) encourages 15 year old Christopher Boone (who, it’s strongly implied, has Asperger’s syndrome) to allow his fellow pupils with behaviour problems to convert his diary of private observations into a participatory stage event.
It’s a clever device which takes us into his head and lets us follow his strictly logical thought processes as he sets out, initially, to discover who killed the neighbour’s dog with a garden fork.
With a mind capable of complex mathematics and logical thought, but unable to deviate from the literal, Christopher can neither lie nor engage emotionally or physically, and the strain and confused pain on the face of his mother (Nicola Walker) is heartwrenchingly sad to witness when she watches the tolerant ease with which Siobhan, the professional, manages to relate to her loved but difficult son.
Luke Treadaway gives a remarkable performance as Christopher – one really feels for him as, alone with his pet rat, he heads for London, confronting the random cacophony and bright lights most of us take for granted. No less affecting is Paul Ritter as his short-tempered but devoted dad.
Bunny Christie’s design and Paule Constable lighting (a flashing grid of lights and numbers) mimic the sensory overload which assaults Christopher’s brain, Frantic Assembly orchestrate the fluid movement and Marianne Elliott (co-director of War Horse) brings it all together with her customary flair.
Cottesloe
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