Druid Roghchlár

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: Staging choices

All actors remain on stage unless prescribed otherwise...Scenes run into one another without interruption regardless of alterations in space or time or chronology.
Stage directions from the introduction to the play

The staging challenges for a production that's in two parts and has no distinct scenes are huge. This must have been especially difficult when the production was moved from being performed 'in the round' (the audience would sit all around with the stage at the centre) at the Cottesloe Theatre to the proscenium arch stage (where the audience face the stage and look into it) at the Apollo Theatre.

Watch the following clip and consider the different challenges each style of staging brought with it.

  • Which do you think would be most effective?
  • Do you think that the production team made the right choices when it changed the style of production?

The challenges of staging The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Watch the following clips about creating atmosphere in the production and the design of the set.

  • What do you find most interesting about how they used music and lighting to create atmosphere?
  • If you were asked to redesign the set for the play, how would you do it?

How music and lighting creates atmosphere in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Designing the set of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.