Casting Announcement: The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time
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London Theatre Direct
The National Theatre’s acclaimed production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time will resume its run at the Gielgud Theatre on 24 June 2014. With press night on 8 July, the production is currently booking at its new West End home to 14 February 2015.
Public booking is now open for the Broadway premiere where performances will begin at the Barrymore Theatre on 15 September 2014, with opening night 5 October 2014. A tour of the UK and Ireland will open at The Lowry in Salford later this year.
Christopher, fifteen years old, stands besides Mrs Shears’ dead dog. It has been speared with a garden fork, it is seven minutes after midnight and Christopher is under suspicion. He records each fact in a book he is writing to solve the mystery of who murdered Wellington. He has an extraordinary brain, and is exceptional at maths while ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. He has never ventured alone beyond the end of his road, he detests being touched and distrusts strangers. But his detective work, forbidden by his father, takes him on a frightening journey that upturns his world.
The Gielgud cast includes Graham Butler as Christopher. He is joined by Vivienne Acheampong (No. 40/Punk Girl), Daniel Casey (Roger Shears), Emily Joyce (Judy), Gay Soper (Mrs Alexander), Paul Stocker (Mr Thompson), Nicolas Tennant (Ed), Tony Turner (Reverend Peters), Victoria Willing (Mrs Shears), Sarah Woodward (Siobhan) and Sam Bond, Roxanne Palmer and Mark Rawlings. Final casting will be announced shortly.
Graham Butler (Christopher) was last on stage in Shakespeare’s Henry VI trilogy, directed by Nick Bagnall, at Shakespeare’s Globe and on the UK tour. His other theatre credits include Henry V at Shakespeare’s Globe, The White Guard for the National Theatre and Journey’s End at the Duke of York’s Theatre and on the UK tour. Butler’s television credits include ITV’s Law and Order UK, Channel 5’s Suspects and the upcoming series Penny Dreadful.
Emily Joyce’s (Judy) stage credits include Donny’s Brain for Hampstead Theatre, A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Headlong, Yes Prime Minister for Chichester Festival Theatre and Gielgud Theatre, Happy Now? for the National Theatre, The Eleventh Capital and Stoning Mary for the Royal Court and Twelfth Night, Love’s Labour Lost and A Christmas Carol for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her many television credits include The Assets, Midsomer Murders, New Tricks, Lewis, Waterloo Road, Holby City, Silent Witness, The Bill, Hotel Babylon, Little Devil, My Hero, Dalziel & Pascoe, Ultimate Force and The Inspector Lynley Mysteries. Joyce’s film credits include Universal Soldier: Regeneration, National Treasure 2 and The Woodlanders.
Nicolas Tennant’s (Ed) previous stage credits include Hamlet, As You Like It and All’s Well That Ends Well for the RSC, Dr. Faustus and The Alchemist for Liverpool Playhouse, Three Kingdoms for the Lyric Hammersmith, Tiger Country for Hampstead Theatre, The Power of Yes, The UN Inspector and The Caucasian Chalk Circle for the National Theatre, People at Sea for Salisbury Playhouse, Under the Black Flag for Shakespeare’s Globe, and Action for the Young Vic. His television credits include Terry Pratchett’s The Colour of Magic, Hogfather, Residents, The Bill, Eastenders, Back-Up, Between the Lines, Friday on My Mind, Trainer and Nice Town. His film credits include Breaking the Bank, Sex Lives of the Potato Men, Tube Tales, Oscar and Lucinda, Back Beat, The Gift, The Fool and A Dangerous Man.
Sarah Woodward’s (Siobhan) theatre credits include In The Next Room for St James Theatre, Love & Information and Jumpy for the Royal Court, The Cherry Orchard, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other and Present Laughter for the National Theatre, Judgement Day for the Almeida Theatre, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Comedy of Errors and Much Ado About Nothing for Shakespeare’s Globe, The Real Thing for the Donmar Warehouse and on the West End and on Broadway, Tom & Clem at the Aldwych Theatre and The Tempest, Love’s Labour’s Lost and The Venetian Twins for the RSC. Woodward won the 1998 Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role for Tom & Clem. On television her credits include DCI Banks, Law & Order, Doctors, New Tricks, The Bill and Casualty. Amongst her film credits are Bright Young Things, I Capture the Castle and The House of Angelo.
An encore screening of the National Theatre Live broadcast of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, filmed during the play’s original run in the Cottesloe Theatre, will be shown in cinemas across the UK and internationally on 22 May 2014 with further screenings in following weeks.
After opening at The Lowry in Salford, the UK and Ireland tour will visit Bath, Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Dublin, Edinburgh, Hull, Liverpool, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Northampton, Nottingham, Oxford, Southampton, Stoke, Sunderland and Wolverhampton with further venues to be announced.
Winner of seven Olivier Awards, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is based on Mark Haddon’s award-winning novel, adapted by Simon Stephens and directed by Marianne Elliott. The production is designed by Bunny Christie, with lighting by Paule Constable, video design by Finn Ross, movement by Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett for Frantic Assembly, music by Adrian Sutton and sound by Ian Dickinson for Autograph.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time opened at the National’s Cottesloe Theatre in August 2012 and following a sell-out run the production transferred to the Apollo Theatre in March 2013. In February this year, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was performed ‘in the round’ in a stripped down version for East London schools and audiences from the local London community.
Marianne Elliott is an Associate Director of the National Theatre where, in addition to War Horse, her productions have included The Light Princess, Port, Season’s Greetings, All’s Well that Ends Well, Harper Regan, Saint Joan (Olivier Award for Best Revival, South Bank Show Award for Theatre), and Pillars of the Community (Evening Standard Award for Best Director). Elliott was consultant director on The Elephantom for the National Theatre and also recently directed Sweet Bird of Youth for the Old Vic with Kim Cattrall.
Mark Haddon’s novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was published in 2003. It was the winner of more than 17 literary awards, including prizes in Japan, Holland and Italy as well as the Whitbread Book of the Year Award in the UK in 2004, and was translated into 44 languages. A Spot of Bother, published in 2006, was also an international bestseller. As well as writing fiction, Mark Haddon’s first work for the theatre, Polar Bears, was produced by the Donmar Warehouse in 2010. He has written 15 books for children, published a first collection of poetry in 2005 and is an illustrator and award-winning screenwriter. The Red House, Haddon’s new novel was recently published by Vintage in paperback.
Simon Stephens’ new play Birdland is currently previewing at the Royal Court, Blindsided recently premiered at the Royal Exchange in Manchester and Port (originally produced at the Royal Exchange and also directed by Marianne Elliott) was revived at the National Theatre’s Lyttelton Theatre last year. His other plays for the National are Harper Regan and On the Shore of the Wide World (co-production with Royal Exchange, Manchester: Olivier Award for Best New Play). His many other plays include Three Kingdoms, Wastwater, Punk Rock, Seawall, Pornography, Country Music, Christmas, Herons, A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky (co-written with Robert Holman and David Eldridge), an adaptation of Jon Fosse’s I Am the Wind and Motortown. His version of A Doll’s House for the Young Vic transferred to the West End and then New York in 2014. Stephens is an Associate at the Lyric, Hammersmith.