My Experience of The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night-Time

When I first learned that for our first drama performance we would be studying "The Curious Incident...Dog In The Night-time" I initially thought it sounds dull but my opinion changed when I started to read the book play version. The novel was a best seller and because of the huge success it was adapted into a script and performed in the West End. When I read the scripted version of the book I thought it very interesting, I enjoyed it and I completely changed my views on the book. I felt amazed and proud that we were performing this and I couldn't wait to get started.

The Themes  
The themes I gathered in the play were Curiosity, Tragedy, Love, Hate, Independence and Ambitious.

I say these are the themes in the play because even though it's in the title a curious incident did take place but also to find out the way the dog had died is a tragedy. To find a garden fork stabbed inside of a dog is not only sick but also unnatural. Love and Hate varied throughout the story, I say the main themes is independence and ambitious. The character Christopher found himself to be independent when he went to carry out an investigation of the dog all by himself. Ambitious because finding out who killed the dog Wellington was his goal and he had nothing else on his mind until he achieves that goal.

I think the play was structured very creatively. I say this because the story is very strange and full of surprises and it was so unexpected. The character Christopher Boone really stood out to me not because of his Asperger Autism but the fact that he is 15 years old and wants to take the matters of the dog's death into his own hands and find the culprit. It makes an incredible storyline.

Castings
I think everyone were fairly happy with their role in the production and wanted to work as soon as possible.

Rehearsals
In terms of rehearsals for the first 2 weeks we only rehearsed in class for a couple of hours. It didn't give us enough time to work on all scenes. We were given feedback each time from our teachers and classmates for improvements. For this production to even stand a chance we came to as a group decision to decide to stay after hours to work on the production. Altogether after hours we have had approx. 4-5 rehearsals but it has been difficult since not all casts were present.

Challenges
Using my own previous experience of rehearsals, I know it is not easy it's very difficult because there are always obstacles in the way. Such as lack of commitment, lack of motivation, appropriate communication, rehearsal priorities are not always number one on the list. In this production I have seen some familiar obstacles which has occurred.

In Conclusion
I think the production will be a great success not only for us but for the audience as well but in order for this to happen "Commitment" needs to be number one! 

Shivam 'Shivvy' Modessa