Curious Incident Festival Theatre dates announced

Apr 15 2014 | By Thom Dibdin More

NT smash hit to play Edinburgh in April 2015

Niamh Cusack as Siobhan and Luke Treadaway as Christopher Boone. Photo © Brinkhoff/Moegenburg

By Thom Dibdin

The National Theatre’s production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is to tour to the Festival Theatre as part of a ten-date national tour.

The tour opens at the Lowry Theatre in Salford this December and continues in 2015. The show will arrive at the Festival Theatre for a two week run from Monday 27 April to Saturday 9 May.

Simon Stephens’ adaptation of Mark Haddon’s best-selling novel won seven Olivier Awards in 2013 including Best New Play, Best Director, Best Lighting Design and Best Sound Design.

It also won the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Theatre and has been seen by over 200,000 people during its run in the West End.

In addition to the UK tour, an “encore” screening of the National Theatre Live broadcast of The Curious Incident…, filmed during the play’s original run in the Cottesloe Theatre, will be shown 22 May 2014, with further screenings during the following weeks.

“Christopher, fifteen years old, stands beside Mrs Shears’ dead dog. It has been speared with a garden fork, it is seven minutes after midnight and Christopher is under suspicion. He records each fact in a book he is writing to solve the mystery of who murdered Wellington.

“He has an extraordinary brain, and is exceptional at maths while ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. He has never ventured alone beyond the end of his road, he detests being touched and distrusts strangers. But his detective work, forbidden by his father, takes him on a frightening journey that upturns his world.”

Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was originally published in 2003. It was the winner of more than seventeen literary awards, including prizes in Japan, Holland and Italy as well as the Whitbread Book of the Year Award in the UK in 2004.

Casting for the tour has yet to be announced. After opening in the Lowry, Salford, it will tour to the New Theatre, Hull; Theatre Royal, Newcastle; Theatre Royal, Plymouth; Derngate, Northampton; Theatre Royal, Nottingham; Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff; Festival Theatre, Edinburgh; Hippodrome, Birmingham; and the Mayflower, Southampton.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is directed by Marianne Elliott, who co-directed the National Theatre’s record-breaking production of War Horse. The production is designed by Bunny Christie, with lighting by Paule Constable, video design by Finn Ross, movement by Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett for Frantic Assembly, music by Adrian Sutton and sound by Ian Dickinson for Autograph.

Encore Screenings of the show have been scheduled at six Edinburgh cinemas for 7pm on Thursday 22 May 2014:
The Brunton: Book through The Hub.
The Cameo: Booking page: www.picturehouses.co.uk (also showing 7pm Thursday 27 May)
The Odeon Lothian Road. Booking through: www.odeon.co.uk.
The Odeon Wester Hailes. Booking through: www.odeon.co.uk.
Vue Ocean Terminal. Booking through: www.myvue.com (Also relaxed screening, Tuesday 3 June).
Vue Omni Centre. Booking through: www.myvue.com (Also relaxed screening, Tuesday 3 June).