Fifteen-year-old Christopher Bone is one of the most interesting characters ever to be brought alive within the pages of a novel. Cheryl Livingstone speaks to two actors who have the exciting opportunity of bringing that character alive onstage
Cleverly simple was how I found myself describing the theatre production of the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
I had loved the book when it came out in 2003, and read the subsequent novels by Mark Haddon with equal enjoyment, so I was a little apprehensive about how a theatre adaptation would do it.
But I needn’t have worried. Simon Stephens’ play manages to be true to the book while creating an identity for itself.
It tells the story of 15-year-old Christopher Boone, who attempts to solve the mystery of a dead dog which has been killed by a garden fork.
Exceptional at maths, but ill-equipped for everyday life, the teenager is taken on a journey which turns his world upside-down.
Joshua Jenkins and Chris Ashby have the great honour of taking the starring role of this stunning production. After watching the play in Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre, I got the chance to speak to the pair afterwards about this exciting role.
Here is what they had to say:
SO HOW’S IT GOING?
Joshua: Tiring, but I feel very lucky to be playing such a wonderful part. It’s a great opportunity to go up and down the country and see all these lovely places and perform in such beautiful theatres.
WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO THE ROLE?
Joshua: It’s the sort of emotional rollercoaster that Christopher goes on from start to finish. It’s his journey. And I think, for young actors, parts like that are few and far between – for any actor, really. And it’s just a gift, so when the audition came up, I just jumped at the chance and prayed that I would get the part.
HAD YOU READ THE BOOK?
Joshua: I had. I read the book a couple of years before I auditioned and fell in love with it. I hadn’t seen the production before, and I still haven’t seen the production, which I felt was great because I could go in with a fresh pair of eyes and really put my own twist on the part. I fell in love with Simon’s adaptation as well. When the script came through for the audition, I thought it was done so beautifully and really clever. When you read the book, you hear the world through Christopher’s voice and in the play you get to see it as well; it’s testament really to the creative team and how they put the show together.
Chris: I knew about the book and I read it before the audition. What’s amazing about the book is that a lot of the time with the characters you kind of have to go searching for clues about the character, but with this book you’ve got a first-person perspective of the person you are playing, so the wealth of knowledge and information and the amount of research that we could do, that we had at our fingertips, was amazing. You never get that much information about a character.
THE SHOW IS ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED
THE USE OF LIGHTING TO CREATE THE DIFFERENT LOCATIONS
Joshua: That was the main reason why I was glad I hadn’t seen it, really, because it’s such an amazing technical show, unlike anything I’d ever seen before. So, when we were thrown into the technical rehearsal, it just blew my mind. It was quite overwhelming; it was quite special.
Chris: I saw the show in London. It gave me a better idea of the world. It was really funny watching Josh like seeing all these amazing things for the first time. I was quite glad I saw it before I auditioned; I knew what I was becoming part of. After seeing the show, it’s done so well because it is a play that everyone can relate to. It’s such an amazing production, so, for me, I knew what I was getting into. I had six months of excitement building up.
HOW DID YOU START THE PROCESS OF “BECOMING CHRISTOPHER”?
Joshua: It’s never mentioned in the book or the play that he is on the autistic spectrum, but I think it is fair to say that he possesses a lot of the traits and qualities of someone who is. So I went to as many schools as I possibly could and I spoke to some teachers and the children and just tried to understand it really and get an idea of what we were dealing with. And then I did as much research as I could with books and documentaries, and then, when we got to rehearsals, I had all that stored in the back of my mind and I couldn’t really forget it or let it go. But when we got there, I tried to stay as true to Simon’s adaptation as I possibly could and use that and always go back to Mark Haddon’s book which was like a bible in the rehearsal room. Working on something that has been adapted from a book is a great gift for an actor, because all the answers are there; it’s all there for you. That’s how I approached it.
IS IT ALSO A HINDRANCE? IT IS BASED ON SOMEONE THAT PEOPLE LOVE AND HAVE THEIR OWN IDEA OF WHAT CHRISTOPHER IS LIKE
Joshua: A little bit, but the way I approached it was the Christopher that I portray is my Christopher and that’s what I saw when I read the book and what I imagined when I read the adaptation. And that worked for me. I think it is essential to do it the way you want to; there can be no other way, really.
It’s the same with any book or play that you read: the character that is projected into your mind and how you visualise them is unique to you and you have to put your spin on it.
Chris: I don’t think, even if we tried, Josh and I could have portrayed Chris in the same way.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time plays Aberdeen’s HM Theatre from Tuesday, September 1, until Saturday, September 5.