curious incident uk production

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time is a play about love, family, secrets, relationships and being an outsider. My favourite scene was the opening scene in which the audience are plunged into a blackout and then a rectangular white spotlight with sharp edges surrounds a large Alsatian with a garden fork sticking out of it.it is also surrounded by a pool of blood. We saw Christopher (Jack Loxton) staring at the body of the dog, mesmerised, body rigid. His neighbour then screamed and the actor moved downstage and fell to his knees bending forward and rocking back and forth. He also repeatedly bashed his right temple with his hand and mad a disturbing low moaning noise. This use of skilful movement, gesture and voice immediately showed the character’s distress to what had happened. A policeman then came in and so Loxton quickly rose to his feet. As the policeman started questioning him Loxton added a twisting gesture with his fingers to the toggle of his hoodie. This added to how agitated we could see he was. When he spoke he used an intense tone but had a highly articulated delivery which added to the impression that Christopher is on the autistic spectrum as his speech didn’t have the nuances of ‘ordinary’ speech. His physical skills showed us how emotional he was but his intonation was not emotional at all. However, the low moaning sound that he used to punctuate his lines (as indicated in the script) added to our impression of a distressed fifteen year old boy. When the policeman touched Christopher he let out a very loud scream and grabbed the policeman’s arm, flinging him from one side to other which was a highly effective reaction the character’s fear of intimacy and Christopher’s ‘behavioural problems’ (as he calls them) were effectively realised through Loxton’s use of vivid physical and vocal skills in this opening scene.
My favourite part of the play was after Christopher had found the letters and his Father had found him. After Fox (Ed) explained he was going to have to touch Christopher, he slowly knelt down and carefully sat Christopher and sat behind him so he could have Christopher in a sitting position in front of him with his head resting on Ed’s chest. He cradled Christopher in his arms.
DIAGRAM
Because of the care and love shown here it was a very tender moment and when Fox manipulated Loxton’s body it communicated the Father’s love for his son. Loxton worked really well with Fox here, as he kept his body limp and limbs heavy. This contrasted with the tense flailing arms of the fit and the now heavy, limp movement vividly demonstrated the actor’s skilful command of physical skill. He was very skilful in letting his fellow actor manipulate his body. This shows also when Ed undresses him. Fox gently began to take of Christopher’s hoodie and Loxton allowed him to pull his arms out of the sleeves. When Ed took of the T-Shirt, Loxton let him pull if over his head by slowly lifting his arms but in a heavy way so it still looked like his Father was undressing him and he was unconscious. Loxton made sure he wasn’t ever helping Fox but let the other actor take control to convince us that he was the child and Fox the Father. Loxton also used his facial expression effectively as he kept his mouth slack and his eyes droopy to add to our impression of a young boy who is unconscious after experiencing a fit. Through his physical skills including facial expression Loxton convinced us of Christopher’s exhaustion after the fit and so was barely conscious at this stage.
This scene must have been emotionally and physically draining for Loxton. He was convincing in his role and it was particularly impressive the way he used his physical skills to communicate his varied emotions since Christopher was autistic. He had excellent control for it can’t be easy to sustain the character, especially as they never leave the stage (as indicated in script). Furthermore, through his skilful use of all the skills, Loxton encouraged us to sympathise with this socially and emotionally awkward teenage boy.