Simon:
For me it’s a novel about how you live with other people, it’s about family, it’s about love, it’s about how you articulate love, it’s about the importance of being honest, it’s about the difficulty of truthfulness.
Ed:
Your mother has died… She’s had a heart attack.
Simon:
Is lying ever kind? Is it ever cruel to tell the truth? Or actually is being truthful the most human and the most important thing we can ever do to one another.
Ed:
I don’t know what to say… I was in such a mess, I said she was in hospital because I didn’t know how to explain it, it was so complicated.
Nick:
It’s a story about family, I think it’s a story about parenting and about being a child and I think that the family in this show and all the characters in this, try really hard to survive in not always the easiest world.
Judy:
It’s my house too, in case you have forgotten.
Ed:
What? Is your fancy man here as well?
Judy:
Don’t do that Ed.
Sean:
It is about difference. About how different we are. Seeing life from different perspectives and the way Mark Haddon has done that quite fantastically is to go to a perspective that we don't normally get and have the main protagonist be autistic Asperger's.
Christopher:
I like looking at the rain.
Ed:
Terrific!
Christopher:
I like it because it makes me think how all the water in the world is connected.
Ed:
Does it?
Christopher:
This water, this rain has evaporated actually from somewhere like maybe the Gulf of Mexico maybe or Baffin Bay and now its falling in front of the house and it will drain away into the gutter and flow to a sewage station and then it will be cleaned and then it will go into a river and then it will go back into the ocean again.
Marianne:
It relates to a lot of us all of the time, I think we all spend many hours of our life feeling perplexed by why other people are behaving in the way they are behaving.
Christopher:
73, 79, 83…
Woman:
AHH!
Christopher:
… 89, 97…
Woman:
You scared the life out of me; can I just get my bag?
Marianne:
And it’s a very humanist way of looking at those moments.
Christopher:
Reverend Peters is going to invigilate.
Judy:
It’s only an exam. I can ring the school, we can get it postponed, you can take it some other time.
Christopher:
I can’t take it some other time, it’s been arranged.
Nicola:
You look at Christopher and you enter his world, and you understand it. And it’s not so different to our world. Yes, he has lots of difficulties, but we can all relate to some of those difficulties.
Siobhan:
I wonder if you can understand any of this. I know it will be difficult for you.
Judy:
I thought what I was doing was the best for all of us.
Siobhan:
I never meant to hurt.
Niamh:
Everybody is desperately trying to understand each other, and obviously Christopher is an extreme version of that because he finds communication quite difficult.
Christopher:
I want to go to London.
Ticket guy:
Single or return?
Christopher:
What does single or return mean?
Ticket guy:
Do you want to go one way or do you want to come back?
Christopher:
I want to stay there when I get there!
Niamh:
The story that we are watching, is a story of family. And most families, have times where it is difficult for them to communicate, look after each other, be truthful with each other.
Ed:
It will get better, I promise. Now, you don’t have to say anything, not right now, but you have to think about it.
Niamh:
And I suppose that, that’s what the book and the play reminds us of.
Video summary
This short film is to support teaching around GCSE English Literature or Drama.
An exploration of the themes of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' by Mark Haddon.
Interviews with cast and creative members are interspersed with footage from the 2012 National Theatre production of the play.
Playwright Simon Stephens introduces the themes running through the novel and play: family, how you live with other people, love, the importance of being honest, the difficulty of truthfulness.
Footage from the National Theatre’s production of the play explores these themes in more detail.
This short film is from the BBC series, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: From Page to Stage, made in collaboration with the National Theatre.
It explores how Mark Haddon’s much-loved novel became a multi-award-winning theatre production.
Interviews with the playwright, director and cast and footage from both rehearsal and performance reveal the process of bringing the story alive on stage.
Teacher Notes
This short film could be used to introduce themes when studying the novel as a set text.
You could encourage your students to explore the themes in detail, using what they've learnt in the short film as inspiration.
This could also be used to explore how to communicate the themes of the play in performance.
Students could be encouraged to analyse this play as a piece of live theatre and discuss how the themes are showcased in performance.
This short film is suitable for teaching GCSE English literature and drama in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and National 5 in Scotland.
Creating Atmosphere. video
Through interviews with the director and designers, we learn how projection, lighting and sound come together to create atmosphere in the production.
Creating Comedy and Tension. video
The cast and creative team explore how they created moments of comedy and tension in the play.
Design Elements. video
A look at how the highly stylised set of the play was designed, featuring interviews with the director and designers.
Ensemble Acting. video
The cast and creative team give us an insight into the use of ensemble acting, where a small group of actors play a large number of different parts.
Adapting a Novel for Theatre. video
Playwright Simon Stephens explains the strategies he used in adapting the story of Mark Haddon’s novel into a script for his production at the National Theatre.
What is Physical Theatre? video
Scott Graham from theatre company, Frantic Assembly, explains what physical theatre is, and how it was used to create the original National Theatre production.
Christopher and his Dad. video
An exploration of the relationship between Christopher Boone and his Dad, Ed Boone, using footage from the original National Theatre production of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'.
Christopher and his Mum. video
A look at the relationship between Christopher Boone and his Mum, Judy, through interviews with the actors and footage from the National Theatre production.
Christopher and Siobhan. video
A look at the relationship between the characters of Christopher Boone and his teacher, Siobhan, played by Niamh Cusack in the National Theatre production.
Who is Christopher Boone? video
An exploration of the character Christopher Boone, from the actor and director who originated the role in the National Theatre production of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'.
