Plymouth Theatre Review

Easy to Follow: 2.5

Family Friendly: 2.5

Must see: 3.5

Title: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Venue: The Watermark Centre, Ivybridge 

Date: 9/7/25

‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’ is a mystery which takes you on a journey of loss, heartbreak, discovery, and forgiveness, as seen through the eyes of the main character, Christopher Boone, a 15-year-old boy with autism. It is a captivating story which not only entertains through humour and tension but also educates the audience about autism and how it effects people. What is notable about this play is that it does not hide away from complicated or stigmatised topics and facilitates a space where you leave feeling encouraged to find out more.

The Tamaritans Theatre Company made a brave choice by bringing in a new member to take the lead as Christopher Boone, but it was an excellent casting choice. Ben Preston, who portrayed Christopher, showed great commitment to his role and delivered a stellar performance. From portraying big, complex, and difficult emotions through voice, body language and stage presence, to showing smaller, detailed, purposeful acts like fidgeting and fixations, Preston delivered a powerful performance. This was complimented by Lara Cook, playing Siobhan, who gave a convincing performance of an individual supporting someone with autism. Through Cook’s delivery of lines there was a great feeling of compassion and kindness that not only helped Christopher but also sent heartwarming ripples of emotion across the audience. Vince Sutton, portraying Ed Boone and Catherine Teague (Judy Boone) had a great relationship on stage, and both brilliantly portrayed what it was like to be a parent of someone with autism. Whether their characters’ actions were right or wrong, Sutton and Teague showed dedication to their roles which resulted in some emotional dynamics and powerful storytelling. 

In terms of set design, I enjoyed the minimal approach. Having the actors change costumes and characters on stage was fun and enjoyable. However, I would have preferred to see either an acknowledgment or sign that these actors were part of Christopher Boone’s own play, or for this not to be acknowledged at all. It became confusing when this fact was only addressed towards the end of the production. 

I enjoyed ensemble being on stage most of the time, however, I wonder if the positioning on stage could be slightly different: as they were positioned in straight rows, they blocked each other out and I could not always see what each of them were doing. The moments of physical theatre divided up the moments of tension nicely, but I would like to have seen more of this and for it to have been injected at a slightly faster pace.

Ami Philpott’s (Director) choice to use music and sound effects created some lovely moments. Most notably, during the train station scene, music was used as a tool to evoke an overstimulated environment which was excellent at letting us into Christopher’s world. The music was also well used in storytelling, particularly in Cathrine Teague’s monologue, as the music matched the tone of the script very well. There were moments where the music/sound effects felt overused or out of place however, so I think in the future it could be used as a tool for specific moments as opposed to being used throughout.

Overall, I enjoyed The Tamaritans take on ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.’ There were moments that were incredibly striking due to the excellent acting and storytelling, and I am thoroughly impressed with the entire team’s commitment to the story and its powerful meaning. Ben Preston did a fabulous job as Christopher Boone and was supported by a wonderful cast. If you do not have a great understanding of autism, this production is one to watch to get a basic insight into what it can be like. If we all learn and listen to each other, the world goes round a lot easier!

Review by Joe Neville

*Gifted – This theatre review was written following a gifted ticket to the performance. However, all opinions and views expressed in this review are entirely that of the reviewer and the review has not been influenced in any way by the provision of the ticket. Our commitment remains to provide an honest and unbiased assessment of the experience.