To mark its first official production as theatre-company-in-residence in the Rehearsal Room at the Belconnen Arts Centre, Mockingbird Theatrics is presenting this season of a compelling adaptation by Simon Stephens of British author, Mark Haddon’s novel.
The play deals with the experiences of a fifteen-year-old boy, Christopher, who’s afflicted with Asperger Syndrome and traumatised by the discovery of his neighbours dead dog on his front lawn.
Christopher has an extraordinary brain, is exceptional at maths, but ill-equipped to interpret daily life. He’s never ventured beyond the end of his road alone and detests being touched. He distrusts strangers but nevertheless sets out on a mission to discover who killed his dog. His detective work, forbidden by his father, takes him on a frightening journey that turns his world upside down.
First seen in Canberra in 2018, in a production by the National Theatre of Britain, the extraordinary technical demands required to present this play appeared so daunting that it was surprising that a local company would attempt to mount it.
Yet Mockingbird Theatrics has taken on the challenge and delivered a remarkable production, directed by Chris Baldock, which while not as lavish as the British production, certainly rivals the impact of that earlier production, assisted in no small part by the intimacy of the venue, and the virtuosity of Matt Kizer’s video design.
This production is extraordinary in several aspects, but the remarkable clarity with which the play depicts the thought processes of the person at the centre of the play as interpreted through Kizer’s design and Baldock’s resourceful direction, provides a fascinating insight into his condition.
For this production the role of Christopher is shared by two different actors at different performances. At the performance under review, the role of Christopher was remarkably interpreted by Ethan Wiggin, a relative newcomer to Canberra with an impressive background in theatre in Perth.
Christopher uses mathematics as his mechanism for expression. His world is depicted as a black box in which the walls and floor are covered with grids on which he scribbles equations to explain his thoughts, only occasionally breaking the fourth wall to talk to the audience direct.
His relationship with his estranged parents, played affectingly by Claire White and Richard Manning, is sometimes brutal, and it seems that the only person he really trusts with his innermost thoughts is his therapist, Siobhan, empathetically portrayed by Leah Peel Griffiths.
Apart from Christopher, Baldock has all his actors wear white, requiring his talented ensemble, Travis Beardsley, Callum Doherty, Peter Fock, Meg Hyam, Anthony Mayne and Tracy Noble rely on voice and attitude to portray the variety of characters that Christopher meets on his journey.
This they achieve brilliantly, but despite the efforts of the strangers Christopher encounters on his journey, all efforts to break through his defences by other people are rebuffed. Yet so clearly are Christopher’s thought process depicted that it’s impossible not to be drawn into siding with him and empathising with his apparent intransigence
This inaugural production by Mockingbird Theatrics (as theatre-company-in-residence at the Belconnen Arts Centre) is an exciting example of clever theatre-making at its best.
The inventiveness of Baldock’s direction and the imaginative way in which his stage design embraces technology to enable complicated mathematical equations and shifts in perspective to become thrilling theatrical experiences in the intimate confines of what was previously The Belconnen Arts Centre Rehearsal Room, augurs well for the success of this Belco Arts initiative.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Belconnen Arts Centre, 118 Emu Bank, Belconnen (ACT)
Performance: Wednesday 26 March 2025
Season continues to 5 April 2025
Bookings: www.belcoarts.com.au
For more information, visit: www.mockingbirdtheatrics.com for details.
Images: Claire White as Judy and Ethan Wiggin as Christopher in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – photo by Chris Baldock | Ethan Wiggin as Christopher and Company in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – photo by Chris Baldock
Review: Bill Stephens OAM