Essay 2

  Although the Video only displays several scenes from the rehearsal and the interview to a couple of staffs, we can tell that it's definitely a splendid play, showing the essence of the book and a substantial amount of distinctive elements.
  According to the author's words, and I quote:" It's not a novel about disability, it's the novel about difference."(Mark Haddon). The play intends to show very special perspectives from the young man in the book, Christopher, who had the characteristic of autism syndrome. As Haddon mentioned, the difference is what really matters. There is a scene from the play when Christopher is floating in a space that's similar to the universe. In the original novel of "The curious incident of the dog in the night-time", Christopher was struggling in social communication but it can't change the fact that he is a both talented and passionate math and science learner. So the play is possibly trying to exhibit that characteristic of Christopher's. At the beginning of the video, Mark Haddon mentioned that:"...one person's slightly alien consciousness."(Mark Haddon), I believe that's exactly the description to Christopher's personality, he was pretty special indeed. However, according to the Autism Consultant in the middle of the video, she states that:"Many people with Autism are really, really creative." We can infer that Christopher also matches that point. Re-looking at the scene I mentioned above, Christopher is twisting, spinning, and struggling in his own world. That's his disability, but also what makes him a distinctive character.
  Another significant technique from the play, which actually makes the whole play incredibly attractive:"the play become personal to a lot of people."(Marianne Elliott.), this is a quote from the Director of the show. That's her whole goal, provides audience group a chance to develop empathy, make them feel what Christopher feels. She mentioned that the play is so close that:"breathing the same air completely inside of his head."(Marianne Elliott) The play used the special but traditional technique that focusing all the spotlight on Christopher in plenty of scenes. For example, at the train station, all the people are spreading out but Christopher. He stands in the center, roaming and seems lost. That's such a strong feeling to the audience. "We feel like we are Christopher."(Marianne Elliott). However, it's not just the play's atmosphere that makes audience feel what Christopher feels, but Christopher's actual experience and personality reflecting on the audience themselves. Some of them might have autism syndrome, some of them might live in their own world like Christopher's, or just as crazy in science and math. The whole point is, if the audience can find the connection between the play and themselves, then it becomes perfect or even "immortal". "It's a metaphor, about all of us encountering things we find overwhelming and confusing and feel that fear but diving through anyway."(Marianne Elliott)
  Understanding the play and build connections to the characters, brings the audience to a whole new level, that's what the whole crew is desperately trying to accomplish. Every emotions, sentence  , and movement that the characters do in the play, are so minute comparing to the spirit that they stand for, the tiny spirit living inside the infinite universe of Christopher Bonnes'.

Cited resource: http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/video/working-on-the-spectrum-the-making-of-curious-incident-and-the-dog-in-the-night-time