Confused and sensitive mind on the stage

SCOTT Reid (Christopher Boone) and ensemble. Photo by BrinkhoffM+Âgenburg

THE Curious Incident Of The Dog in the Night-time

Lowry, Salford, to February 4

THE National Theatre has been firing on all cylinders in recent years, creating international gems such as One Man, Two Guvnors and War Horse.

But who would have thought a modern Candide, with an Asperger's sufferer as the innocent hero, would be the third in a trio of smash hits? Or indeed that Marianne Elliott, late of the Royal Exchange, would be the director of two of them?

This exciting night of theatre corrals everything from a dead dog to the sky and stars to make it a major stage event. The original, a book by Mark Haddon, took on the huge task of portraying on the page the damaged mind and physicality of an autistic teenager, 15-year-old Chris.

The stage adaptation, by Stockport's finest Simon Stephens, fully realises this confused and sensitive mind with amazing intensity from the leading man, Scott Reid, and almost equal visual intensity from the walls of video screens, brilliant lighting and noise-filled soundtrack, each contributing to Chris's out of kilter world view.

This is, after all, a teen who can't bear to be touched, screams and hits out when subjected to noise or perceived threat, loves to shut himself up in a dark, "peaceful" cupboard and... happens to be a brilliant young mathematician, the first-ever in his special school to take an A-level.

The show opens on the sight of a dead dog liked by Chris, skewered in a neighbour's garden by unknown hand. The teen determines to find out who did it and this kicks off a series of revelations - Chris's mum Judy (Emma Beattie) has walked out to live in London with neighbour Roger (Oliver Boot), leaving husband Ed (David Michaels) to cope by telling his son she is dead - leading to confessions and Chris, fearing for his safety, travelling alone to London to find his mum.

The play veers wildly between Chris's unflaggingly direct honesty - which is often very funny - to fearful run-ins with police and the everyday requirements of travel: noisy stations, milling crowds, buying tickets and finding one particular address when you have no idea where you are going.

The whole is both an engaging night of tour de force theatre and a salient reminder that you should never assume the person standing next to you is able to cope with modern life just because he (or she) looks like he can.