The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Birmingham REP

Writer: Mark Haddon

Adaptor: Simon Stephens

Director: Ned Bennett

Chris isn’t like other girls. She doesn’t look different, but she is. Somehow her brain works quite differently and this colours her entire perception of the world and of herself. And the way this manifests itself can mean the rest of us have to try harder when her behaviour isn’t what we’d perhaps expect.

Although it’s never mentioned in the play (or the source book) as such, Chris is neurodivergent and, it seems, on the autism spectrum. She speaks plainly and struggles with things like metaphor: she can define metaphor, for sure, but being told to ‘keep her nose out of something’? Well, that doesn’t really make any sense. It’s like lying, and that’s something Chris just can’t do. She doesn’t like physical contact, either. But she is highly intelligent – she has an endless fascination for science and maths; indeed, despite being only 15, she’s ready to be the first person in her special school to enter an external exam: A Level maths. Yet the production is careful not to frame her through the limiting “idiot savant” stereotype. This Chris is fully rounded, something the creators of this adaptation of Mark Haddon’s book clearly wanted to make sure came out.

The creatives made the conscious choice to gender swap Chris from the book and previous adaptations at least partly in order to present the female experience of neurodivergence. Here, that experience is far more internalised:  as the programme notes, the protagonist “will shut down rather than meltdown”. We see this when her senses become overwhelmed and she retreats inside herself – until the remembered advice of her father and of her mentor Siobhan provides a lifeline to lift herself out and enable her to function again.

Trying to understand and support Chris’s needs has caused tensions at home, especially since she lost her mother suddenly two years ago and has been brought up by her father. And when she discovers Wellington, the dog of one of her neighbours and friends, has been brutally killed, she sets out to discover the truth, a brave decision as that will mean interacting with strangers, something that does not come at all naturally. That decision will ultimately have ramifications beyond solving the mystery and cause her to reassess everything.

The role of Chris is being shared between two neurodivergent actresses; on press night it was Alex Keenan, with Imi Price as alternate.

The production is centred on Chris and her inner workings and so stands and falls on this central performance: Chris is never offstage, and the rest of the cast is very much in supporting roles. Keenan certainly rises to this challenge and brings a freshness and logic to the role. She is also quite compelling – one simply can’t keep one’s eyes off her, one moment sharing her awe at the universe and the stars, the next understanding why heavy-handed policing sends her into crisis. Keenan’s Chris is frequently nonplussed at the folk around her and their behaviour. This is made all the more impressive when one realises this is Keenan’s professional debut.

The central conceit is that the performance we are seeing is one based on Chris’s account of her adventures and produced as a project. Her mentor, Siobhan (Bridgette Amolah), acts as support and narrator. Amolah makes Siobhan a believable and empathetic character who wants only the best for Chris.

A key feature of the story is Chris’s relationship with Ed, her father, played by Joe McFadden. McFadden is slowly drowning as he tries to keep all the balls in the air as a single parent; he’s by no means the perfect father, but he tries to put Chris first. As the relationship develops, we see Ed closer and closer to the edge as he struggles to understand the consequences he experiences.

Charlie Brooks brings us Judy, Chris’s absent mother, who is still struggling with the consequences of a decision made two years ago. Brooks presents Judy as a woman torn in two, feeling she has nowhere to turn; her performance as the angst-ridden mother is spot on.

The rest of the ensemble play multiple roles and also serve to highlight the confusion and inner workings of Chris’s mind and perception. The large Rep stage is largely empty, with occasional bits of set trucked on and excellent use of abstract shapes and projections. Eleanor Bull’s design, supported by that of Giles Thomas (sound), Laura Deward (lighting) and Hayley Egan (video) allows for fluid movement between the physical settings in which Chris finds herself and also the mental landscape she needs to navigate. The sequence in which she sets out to travel alone to London by train, beset with bewildering experiences and phrases, is particularly striking.

As a piece that helps us to understand the realities of neurodivergence, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is undoubtedly a success; but more: it doesn’t ask us simply to understand Chris; it makes us feel the panic, logic, noise and courage of her world. We cannot help but admire her determination and feel her fears alongside her, thanks to the sure direction of Ned Bennett and the powerful central performances.

Runs until 19 September 2026 and on tour