‘The Curious Incident’, on China tour, says it’s OK to be different

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Traveling by train may be easy for almost everyone, but not for Christopher, the main character in the play “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.”

Based on Mark Haddon’s 2003 best-selling mystery novel, the play tells a story about Christopher Boone, a 15-year-old boy who is a math genius but struggles with everyday social interaction. One night, he discovers the body of his neighbor’s dog and decides to find out who killed it. His detection journey reveals secrets kept by people around him.

A still from “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”. /Photo by Brinkhoff Mögenburg

The play is produced by Britain's National Theatre. Premiered in 2012, the winner of seven Olivier Awards and five Tony Awards hit theaters in China for the first time since in March.

A story about difference

Although Christopher's condition is not stated in the book or the play, he is a teenager who suffers from Asperger syndrome, a subtype of autism.

“What we are saying with ‘The Curious Incident’ is always be alert and welcoming to difference,” resident director Kim Pearce told CGTN. “We always avoid giving Christopher a label... we want the audience to meet Christopher as an individual, accept him as he is.”

The actor who brings the 15-year-old boy to life is Joshua Jenkins from the UK, the seventh actor to play Christopher.

Joshua Jenkins plays Christopher Boone. /CGTN Photo

Jenkins, who has done massive research about Asperger syndrome for his character, told CGTN that the autistic element is not the driving force behind his portrayal.

“The story is so much more than that, it’s about universal themes that we can all relate to, like family and love, and coming of age,” he said.

Jenkins said he could very much relate to the autistic teenager. “I’m not good at math, but I do have a passion for theater, film and music,” he said.

“I know what is like to channel all your anxiety, all the pressure and stress of the world through the things you love.”

The intelligent and highly logical Christopher is often bracketed together with characters like Sheldon Cooper from the American sitcom “The Big Bang Theory” and the British fictional detective Sherlock Holmes.

Sheldon Cooper from “The Big Bang Theory” (L) and Sherlock Holmes from “Sherlock.” /VCG Photo

Pearce acknowledged the similarities among the three characters but found differences between Christopher and the other two.

“His struggle isn’t to solve Fermat's Last Theorem, his struggle is to get permission from the people around him… to take his A-level three years early,” said Pearce.

“He is extremely vulnerable and he’s not really asking for much. Whereas Sheldon and Sherlock Holmes get everything they want. In a way, Christopher is a little bit less of a fantasy, he is a little bit more real.”

Enthusiastic responses to math elements in China

When asked about audience reaction to the math elements of the play during the China tour, Jenkins exclaimed, "It’s amazing, you guys love math!

“When I perform in the UK, I get a very muted response, not a lot happens when you do big math equation... In China, the audiences will shout out and they finish the answers to the questions for you.

“It feels like in those moments the audience and the performers are one.”

A still from “The Curious Incident”. /Photo by Brinkhoff Mögenburg

In order to provide a better experience for Chinese audiences, the production team put a lot of thought into the subtitles' translation.

“When we open the play in Shanghai, we spent a ridiculously long time trying to work out what the equivalent for the English snack food Cravers should be,” Pearce laughed. “So at the moment, we went through talking about whether they should be cucumber Lay’s.”

After Hong Kong and Shanghai, “The Curious Incident” completed its tour last week in Beijing, where it participated in the Meet in Beijing Arts Festival. The show will reach its final stop in Guangzhou in June.

“The main character is just like one of our students who sometimes behave differently,” a middle school teacher told CGTN after the Beijing premiere on May 24, as another nodded in agreement “We can very much relate to the teacher character of the play.”

“We knew nothing about the play before watching it,” said an audience, who found some plots hard to understand because of the cultural differences. “But we like it because of the amazing stage design and the spot-on performance by the leading actor.”

What would Christopher’s future be like?

/Photo by Brinkhoff Mögenburg

The story ends with Christopher acing his A-level math exam and receives a dog from his father. Both the director and the actor have imagined what the 15-year-old boy’s future would be like.

“I definitely see him living in a small house in Oxford, with as many dogs as he wants, and his own toilet,” Pearce told CGTN, referring to the southern English university city.

“I would be really interested to see what happens when puberty really hits him for real… we don’t see that of Christopher cause he is not there yet. Does he end up with a wife? Who knows?”

Jenkins said he believed that Christopher would be smart enough to study math and science in top universities like Oxford and Cambridge. “I think that he’d have difficulties in every aspect of his life, but we all do... he will struggle, but I think he will succeed.”

At the end of the Beijing premiere, Christopher said to his teacher, “I went to London on my own, does it mean I can do anything?”

“Yes!” responded the audience.

(Video by Guo Meiping)

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