See the World Differently as a "Curious Incident" Comes to the Beijing Stage, May 24-27

A dead dog might seem an unpromising topic for a play. But for 15-year-old Christopher, who sees the world differently, the mystery of who killed his neighbor’s dog leads to revelations which turn his life upside down.

Mark Haddon’s novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was an international bestseller, and the theater adaptation has won numerous awards and is the longest-running play on Broadway. Now it’s coming to Beijing for the first time.

Although Christopher’s condition is never specified, he has an autistic person’s literalism and obsession with detail. The pages of the book are numbered only with prime numbers, and he struggles to understand the messy emotions and unpredictable behavior of the people around him. The play draws us into his world through the use of video projections, sound, lighting, and physical theater. There's also a model railway which Christopher constructs throughout the performance, until it dominates the stage and becomes the set.

The unusual title comes from a Sherlock Holmes story. When Holmes comments on “the curious incident of the dog in the night-time,” the police inspector says that the dog did nothing in the night-time.

“That," Holmes replies, "was the curious incident.”

There’s a clue there to the solution of Christopher’s mystery too, but the revelations are brilliantly paced and constantly surprising, and the production, by the director of the National Theatre’s celebrated War Horse, sweeps the audience along on a moving, funny, and unforgettable journey.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time plays at the Tianqiao Performing Arts Center from May 24-27. Tickets cost RMB 480 to RMB 880 and are available from Damai here.

Photos: Brinkhoff/Moegenburg, courtesy of Tianqiao Performing Arts Center