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BrumHour saw The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Night-Time at the invite of Birmingham Rep.
By Dave Massey
The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Night-Time at Birmingham Rep: Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐Creative and energetic
Directed by Ned Bennett, Adapted by Simon Stephens
Chris (Alex Keenan at this performance) is pulled into a mystery as she discovers her neighbour’s dog has been killed. Her mother (Charlie Brooks) is dead, and her dad (Joe McFadden) is doing his best to look after Chris and keep her safe. But Chris is determined.
The set is almost a blank white canvas with elements projected on the walls and floor, with props to act as furniture and locations. The way Chris explores the world with maths, science and logic is demonstrated engagingly and with heaps of passion.
This is a fairly energertic production as the dialogue is spoken pretty quickly and there is a lot of physical movement on stage; each performance is described as relaxed, but the lights seemed to still be pretty dark in the theatre apart from on the stage.
Alex Keenan is excellent, and we really get to understand Chris through Alex’s movement and performance; Charlie Brooks and Joe McFadden are great too. Bridgette Amofah’s Siobhan provides us with a great narrator.
There is plenty of swearing and adult themes, and this is firmly set as a teenage/adult production with a lot to offer audiences who are new to it.
Creative and energetic, The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Night-Time is at Birmingham Rep until 19th September 2026, before touring the UK. Book tickets here: birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/the-curious-incident-of-the-dog-in-the-night-time-2/
