The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time :: Education Pack

SEASON OF

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME based on the novel by Mark Haddon adapted by Simon Stephens

EDUCATION PACK

Contents

THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTERS

A U C K L A N D T H E AT R E C O M PA N Y R E C E I V E S P R I N C I PA L A N D C O R E F U N D I N G F R O M :

Synopsis

Design: AV

Characters

Design: Lighting

From Page to Stage

Design: Sound

Alternative Perspectives: Avoiding The ‘A’ Words

Additional Reading and Resources

Direction: Sara Brodie

About ATC Education

Design: Set

Curriculum Links

P.04

P.08 P.13

S U B S I D I S E D S C H O O L M AT I N E E S A R E M A D E P O S S I B L E BY A G R A N T F R O M

P.16

P.20

ATC Education also thanks the ATC Patrons and the

P.24

ATC Supporting Acts for their ongoing generosity.

Design: Costume

P.34

P.38 P.41

P.42 P.43 P.43

P.28

VENUE:

Please note • Schools’ performances are followed by a Q&A Forum lasting for 20 – 30 minutes in the theatre immediately after the performance.

• Eating and drinking in the auditorium is strictly prohibited.

• Please make sure all cell phones are turned off prior to the performance and, if possible, please don’t bring school bags to the theatre.

• Photography or recording of any kind is STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

Q Theatre, 305 Queen Street, Auckland City

SCHOOL MATINEE PERFORMANCES: Thursday 4, 11 and 18 and Tuesday 9 August at 11am RUNNING TIME:

approximately 2 hours 45 minutes including a 20 minutes interval

SUITABILITY:

This production is especially suitable for Year Levels 10 - 13

ADVISORY:

Contains occasional use of strong language

1

SEASON OF

based on the novel by

adapted by

MARK HADDON

SIMON STEPHENS

CAST Christopher John Francis Boone — Tim Earl | Siobhan — Siobhan Marshall Judy — Hera Dunleavy | Ed — Wesley Dowdell Mrs Alexander/Voice Six/Shopkeeper — Rima Te Wiata Mrs Shears/Voice One/Mrs Gascoyne/Woman on Heath/Ukrainian One/ Ticket Collector/Posh Lady/London Police — Serena Cotton Policeman One/ Voice Two/Mr Thompson/Rhodri/Man behind Counter/Posh Man/ Drunk Two/Shopkeeper/ Roger — Mel Odedra Duty Sergeant/Voice Three/Mr Wise/Uncle Terry/Drunk One/London Transport Policeman/ Customer/Man on Phone/London Police — Damien Avery Reverend Peters/Voice Four/Station Policeman/Station Guard/Man in Socks — Peter Hayden Number 44/Voice Five/Lady in Street/Information/Punk Girl/Ukrainian Two/Woman on Train — Victoria Abbott

C R E AT I V E Director — Sara Brodie Set Designer — John Verryt | AV Designer — Tim Gruchy Costume Designer — Kirsty Cameron | Costume Assistant — Fiona Nichols Lighting Designer — Jo Kilgour | Sound Designer/Original Music — Thomas Press

PR O D U C T I O N Production Manager — Robert Hunte | Company Manager — Elaine Walsh Stage Manager — Eliza Josephson-Rutter | Technical Manager — Bonnie Burrill Director Intern — Ahi Karunaharan | Lighting & AV Operator — Abby Clearwater Sound Operator — Matt Eller | Props Master — Becky Ehlers AV System and Installation — Simon Barker | Set Construction — 2Construct

E D U C AT I O N PAC K C R E D I T S Writer — Amber McWilliams Editor — Lynne Cardy Design images courtesy of John Verryt, Kirsty Cameron and Tim Gruchy Production Images — Michael Smith Design — Wanda Tambrin 2

SYNOPSIS

C

hristopher Boone is fifteen years, three months and two days old when he sees his neighbour’s dog, Wellington, lying in her garden. (Christopher has a special and literal way of perceiving the world, and likes to be precise.) He ventures out into the night and discovers the dog is dead, having been stabbed with a pitchfork.

Mrs. Shears, the dog’s owner, finds Christopher on the scene.

She questions him, assuming he killed the dog, and calls the police.

They also quiz Christopher, and get confused by his truthful but very direct answers. One of the policemen asks Christopher to give them his watch. When Christopher refuses, the policeman tries to take it; Christopher screams at being touched, lashes out and hits the policeman. He is taken to the police station and cautioned: the police tell him to “keep his nose out of other people’s business” and not try to find out what happened to the dog.

However, Christopher has already decided he should hunt

4

down the killer. The next day, he starts his detective work, asking various neighbours whether they saw anything suspicious. They all say no. Mrs. Alexander tries to befriend Christopher, offering him biscuits and asking him questions, but most advise him to “leave it alone” and go away. His father, Ed, also insists that Christopher stop asking questions about the dog.

Christopher’s teacher Siobhan suggests Christopher should write down his experiences. He details his investigations, and writes that he wants to be an astronaut, because he would be happy alone in space.

Ed tries to convince Siobhan that Christopher should be allowed to take the high school maths exam, which the ‘special school’ students don’t usually sit; she says no, arguing that Christopher cannot be given ‘special treatment’.

Meanwhile, Christopher has decided the most likely person to have killed Wellington is Mr. Shears. Ed gets very angry and tells Christopher not to mention that ‘evil man’ ever again. So Christopher asks Mrs. Alexander why his father

hates Mr. Shears; she awkwardly explains that before Christopher’s mother died, she had an affair with Mr. Shears. Christopher writes this down in his journal. Ed gets the journal from Siobhan and finds out what Christopher knows – after a fight with Christopher, he hides the journal.

Christopher does more ‘detecting’ and finds the journal in his father’s room – along with a box of letters to Christopher from

the address on her letters. He tries to get Mrs. Alexander to look after his rat, Toby, and tells her the plan.

She thinks they should contact his father; Christopher leaves, taking Toby.

Christopher finds his way to the local train station, and enlists the station policeman to help him buy a ticket to London. However, the policeman calls Ed, and then gets on the train to convince Christopher to come and talk to his father.

The train leaves with Christopher and the station policeman still on board; Christopher hides and the policeman loses him. By reciting prime numbers and other patterns to keep himself calm, and watching and asking advice of other people, Christopher makes it to London and finds the house where his mother lives with her new husband Roger. She is horrified when Christopher explains he didn’t answer her letters because his father told him she was dead.

“Christopher has a special and literal way of perceiving the world, and likes to be precise.” his mother. He reads them, and finds out how and why she left.

Ed discovers Christopher with the letters, and promises to tell Christopher the truth from then on – including about what happened to Wellington. Upset by what he hears, Christopher decides to go to London to find his mother, using

5

The police are notified; Ed arrives to see Christopher, but cannot convince him to return to Swindon with him.

However, the next day Christopher tries to get his mother to take him back so he can sit his A-Level maths exam. After a series of fights between Judy, Roger and Christopher, Judy

6

takes Christopher back to Swindon, where he sits the exam. He and his mother move into a flat; Ed gradually wins back Christopher’s trust, and Christopher gets his A-Level results and begins to have faith in his future.

•

Look at the show images for the ATC production.

What specific theatre technologies can you identify being used to create the unique ‘look and feel’ of the production?

•

Christopher’s way of interacting with the world is never given a medical ‘label’ in either the book or the play.

Explore and explain why this might be.

•

Siobhan insists that Christopher shouldn’t receive ‘special treatment’ by being allowed to sit the maths exam.

What does she mean? How is the term ‘special’ shown to be slippery in this text and context?

7

CHARACTERS

Christopher John Francis Boone Christopher is happy with his own company, more interested in staying apart than fitting in. An acute observer, he likes solving problems; he is good at maths and logic. Though uncertainty and over-stimulation stress him out, he settles himself by sequencing numbers, doing puzzles, or ‘reading the world’ through its text and images.

8

“Fifteen-year-old Christopher has an extraordinary brain; he is exceptionally intelligent but ill-equipped to interpret everyday life.” http://curiousonbroadway.com/

Mrs. Shears

Siobhan

Christopher and Ed’s next-doorneighbour Mrs. Shears is suspicious of the Boone family – and not without cause. She is judgemental and jumps to conclusions, leading to conflict.

Christopher’s teacher is sympathetic and kind. She encourages him to write a journal so that he has a non-threatening way of expressing himself. However, she still thinks ‘inside the box’ about what students like Christopher should be allowed to attempt, saying he is not allowed to have ‘special treatment’ and sit the A-Level maths exam.

Ed Boone

Mrs. Alexander

Christopher’s dad is engaged with his son; as Christopher’s day-to-day carer, Ed works hard to do what is best for his boy. However, sometimes Ed’s own adult problems take over, and his temper gets the best of him.

Friendly neighbour Mrs. Alexander takes Christopher as he is, working to understand his unconventional ways of communicating. She is unconcerned by what other people think, but draws the line at babysitting Christopher’s rat.

9

Mr. Shears Mr. Shears is really only interested in preserving his romance with Judy; dealing with an atypical teenager and his entire community (including Judy’s ex-husband and his own exwife) is not what he signed up for.

Judy Boone Christopher’s mum loves her son but struggles to deal with the everyday challenges of caring for him. However, she still wants to be part of his life – she is just not sure how to manage this, given her own anxieties and instability.

10

11

FROM PAGE TO STAGE

Mark Haddon’s award-winning novel informs the play of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time at every level. The title – taken from a Sherlock Holmes mystery story by Arthur Conan Doyle – deliberately refers to nothing happening: what is “curious” in that case is that “the dog did nothing in the night-time.”

Hence Haddon’s own original story echoes an earlier genre (detective fiction), a famous character (Holmes), and an incident familiar to readers (the dog’s inaction) but

gives these traditional elements a new twist through Christopher’s unique perspective. The play rises to the challenge of presenting the story – which in the novel is entirely from Christopher’s viewpoint – in a way that allows the audience to be ‘inside Christopher’s head’ and experience his world view, but also recognise the ‘ordinary’ world of Christopher’s family and friends, and how they respond to Christopher’s actions and reactions.

THE BOOK

THE PLAY

• • •

• • • •

•

Written by Mark Haddon Published 2004 by Doubleday Sold over two million copies

• •

AWARDS Whitbread Book of the Year 2003 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book Guardian Children's Fiction Prize Alex Prize 2004

•

• • • • •

•

Written by Simon Stephens Premiered 2 August 2012 at the National Theatre, London and ran for a three-month season Revival seasons at the Gielgud Theatre (2014 and 2016/2017)

•

•

THE AUTHOR: MARK HADDON

THE PLAYWRIGHT: SIMON STEPHENS

Born 1962 in Northhampton, England Educated at Merton College, Oxford First book, children’s title Gilbert’s Gobstopper, published in 1987 Illustrator; produced the pictures for many of his own children’s books Working artist, producing painting, prints, photography and sculpture in addition to his writing Has published 19 youth titles (for children and young adults), including well-known series Agent Z Writing for television includes an adaptation of Raymond Briggs’s Fungus the Bogeyman and original drama Coming Down the Mountain Most recent publication is his third adult novel: The Blue House (2012)

• • • • •

•

•

•

Born 1971 in Stockport, England Educated at University of York Ran the Young Writers Programme for the Royal Court Theatre, London First play, Bring Me Sunshine, staged at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1997 Has written 20+ original plays, and done adaptions and translations, including plays by Ibsen Awards include Pearson Award: Best New Play (Port, 2001); Olivier Award for Best New Play (On the Shore of the Wide World, 2005) Writing for television includes two-part serial Dive and short film adaptation of Pornography Most recent original play is Heisenberg (2015)

AWARDS • Tony Award Best New Play 2015 • Olivier Award: Best Actor in a Play (to Luke Treadaway as Christopher)

13

ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVES: AVOIDING THE ‘A’ WORDS

T

hough Christopher is never labelled with any specific ‘condition’ in either the book or the play, his behaviour offers insight into his perceptions.

His reaction to seemingly normal interactions – such as screaming when touched – demonstrates that he has a special sensitivity to the sensory world. The diagnostic term for this would probably be “autistic spectrum” or “Asperger’s syndrome”. Autism NZ offers comprehensive information about what these terms mean: http://www.autismnz.org.nz/

However, Mark Haddon was always insistent that labels were not necessary or relevant to the story of Christopher’s experience. In the author’s own words: “Curious Incident is not a book about Asperger’s. It’s a novel whose central character describes himself as ‘a mathematician with some behavioural difficulties’. Indeed, he never uses the words ‘Asperger’s’ or ‘autism’ (I slightly regret that fact that the word ‘Asperger’s’ was used on the cover). If anything it’s a novel about

16

difference, about being an outsider, about seeing the world in a surprising and revealing way.”

“Imagination always trumps research. I thought that if I could make Christopher real to me then he’d be real to readers. I gave him some rules to live by and some character traits and opinions, all of which I borrowed from people I know, none of whom would be labelled as having a disability. Judging by the reaction, it seems to have worked.”

— Mark Haddon, www.markhaddon.com “Sensory processing differences” mean that ordinary things are experienced in a way that isn’t common to the majority of the population.

People with this condition may “experience a delay in how they process certain stimuli, including time. It may take a while for them to understand words spoken to them...

They may appear unresponsive and aloof because they have not yet processed the information presented.

It can sometimes be hard for them to comprehend that hours have passed.

Some people … exhibit an ability to focus on an object or activity for hours with unusual intensity. This

intense focus may be related to time perception … because the person is unaware of how much time has passed. While [an ordinary] person would be fatigued by focusing on one thing for hours, the person … does not

view the time passage as long and may view hours in terms of minutes.”

— http://autism.lovetoknow.com/ Time_Perception_in_Autism_ Spectrum_Disorder

•

What difference does it make to the text (novel / play) that Haddon chooses not to use the diagnostic terms “autism” or “Asperger’s syndrome”? How do you understand these terms, and how might they colour people’s thinking about the character of Christopher?

•

Watch the video Sensory Overload. https://vimeo.com/52193530 How does this illustrate the experience of heightened sensory perception? What creative techniques are used by the director to demonstrate that there is crossover in the way DIFFERENT senses overload (e.g. sound / sight / touch)?

•

In a group, create a scene where a character is overwhelmed by their environment in some way. Use a variety of techniques to show their experience. Remember to consider all the dramatic possibilities – for instance, can your scene be quiet, and slow, and still convey a sense of being taken over?

17

18

19

DIRECTION SARA BRODIE

S

ara loves the Curious story.

"My introduction to the play was reading the book, which I adored. I got the play script at the National Theatre but never saw the show, so when I first read the play I had this clean version in my head, which was a very simple staging.” Sara deliberately chose not to see the National Theatre production “because I didn’t want that to get in the way of what we do and create here.” The ATC production will be the first New Zealand production of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The NightTime, and the aim is to create something powerful and unique that speaks to Kiwi audiences.

She felt that National Theatre production had already set up expectations because “it was created with Frantic Assembly, and they are known for their movement. Because I also choreograph, I started getting a bit paranoid, thinking 'oh my god, they’ll want me to turn out a show like this…” However, Sara’s gut instinct was 20

to stay away from overtly physicalizing this production. “Christopher doesn't like being touched, so to approach it that way didn't sit entirely comfortably with me – which isn't to say we won't explore some of that territory.”

Sara used Haddon’s novel as a primary resource in preparing for this project. Her visualisation of the written text “lent itself to me drawing pictures, which somehow made me feel closer to Christopher” she says. One of the challenges is how to balance the points of view in the play, which differ, unlike the book. Sara says, “The main question as we are rehearsing is when do we want to be inside Christopher’s perspective, or observing it, or on the case of solving the mystery of ‘Who Killed Wellington?’ The play thus far is proving to be a delicate balancing act; I won’t know until we are running the whole how much the scales should shift in each direction.

There is intrinsic drama in his family situation, which is in the script and original book.”

The theatre configuration, and proximity to the audience, offer great

opportunities to engage the audience in a very personal way. As Sara puts it, “the glory of Q Theatre is that it's such an intimate space we can really get the audience involved in the action and Christopher's world, which is also a very intimate space.”

How to make that stage territory work is a collective activity during rehearsals. Sara says, “there are a lot of unknowns in here for me, because I've been through a gazillion perambulations of what it might look like on the floor, but when we're actually up on our feet doing it – that's when we'll find it. The first weeks are going to be 'explore week' for us, finding our language.”

To manage the amount of stage business, Sara has been proactive about documenting that language,

with her initial ideas and the company’s discoveries. “Because the show's so complex, with all the multiple characters and comings and goings, I’ve done a ‘bible’ to put on the wall!” This maps out all the movement, sound and AV decided to date. However, Sara anticipates plenty of changes over the course of the rehearsal period. “Basically we're operating, as a design team, with 'let's put too much in' and then take it away.

We'll strip it down to the essentials so we're not making this 'the AV show' or 'the physical theatre show'.” That way, she says, “we keep getting back to the intimacy of the situations that are intrinsic in the script. We do want to take the audience, as much as possible, into Christopher's way of viewing the world and way of being.”

•

When did this ATC production “take you into Christopher’s world”? How did it achieve this aim? When were you simply an observer, and how was this achieved?

•

Draw a picture that sums up the idea / mood / action of one scene in the play. This can be as realistic or expressionistic as you like… Explain the choices behind your image.

•

Imagine you were doing a stripped back ‘physical theatre’ representation of this story. Create one scene using only movement – no dialogue / set elements / music. What is lost?

What is clarified or highlighted? What other ‘single element’ versions could work?

21

SET DESIGN “Because the whole thing is from Christopher's perspective, we'll try to get the audience into his head as much as we can.”

— John Verryt, Set Designer

SET JOHN VERRYT

J

ohn Verryt explains that the set for this production is literally “a puzzle”. Inspired by the “accurate and precise little diagrams” given in the novel, in designing the set John has “gone with the idea of everything being in a grid. We'll be projecting onto all the facets of these cubes, and onto the floor.” Everything on the set itself will be white, and "quite stark so we can map it with the AV and add colour into it."

Sara says “Because the whole thing is from Christopher's perspective, we'll try to get the audience into his head as much as we can.” For instance, the AV will be used to project “Tetris patterns in yellow and red, depending on the way the world is skewing – showing whether it's a good day or a bad day [for Christopher] at that moment.”

Sara says the production aims to “play with the audiences' sense of balance.” To achieve this, John says, “the set is skewed to put a bit of tension into the room. It's twisted, so everyone will be slightly uncomfortable.”

Because Christopher rocks and feels giddy if overwhelmed, the set and its 24

elements are angled. The four main entrances are identical black walkways that make locations ambiguous; it becomes unclear “quite where you are”.

Actors will move behind the seating blocks, so the audience will feel the world of the play is all around them.

Sara says the main set elements are "good old theatrical boxes. We don't want to turn it into 'the box moving show' because that would get dull, but they give us flexibility." As John explains, "they become seats and tables and whatever we need.” To make them practical, John will put “felt on the bottom so they're not noisy, and they will slide. They're as light as I can make them and still have someone jump on them.”

The boxes will also be modified as the needs of scenes are revealed. “We'll cut holes out so we can store props in them," John says. Sara chimes in, "and we'll have one that's absolutely hollow so you can get into it and curl up. We'll be able to stack them up so Christopher can stand three high... For the tube platform, we'll make the waiting area up here, but the train tracks and tunnel will be down here, so we'll be playing with levels and light.”

Set model

•

The minimalist set is white and the floor is in a grid. What do these stark choices establish about this world for the audience?

How do they function to convey the play’s key concepts?

•

Sara refers to “good old theatrical boxes” – a standard set element. How was this used in traditional and novel ways in this production? When was it most effective?

•

How did you read the ‘skewed’ set? What impact did this have on your experience of Christopher’s world, and the world the other characters inhabit?

•

Choose one scene that takes place in a particular location, and describe how generic set elements were used to indicate the specifics of that place.

25

COSTUME DESIGN “Greys can work quite beautifully together; the costume doesn't have to feel boring or plain. I think we can make it really alive” — Kirsty Cameron, Costume Designer

Costume design reference

COSTUME KIRSTY CAMERON

“

The key costume concept is to use colour in quite a stylised and strong way” says Kirsty.

Most of the costume will be “in a monochromatic world”, using greyscale. “Greys can work quite beautifully together; the costume doesn't have to feel boring or plain. I think we can make it really alive” Kirsty says.

In contrast, Christopher will be in full colour, and specific props and accessories will be in bright colour to highlight characters or ideas. Costume will mirror projection with its spots of colour on stark white set elements.

Actors will have “a strong base costume to which we add details to change them from one character to another. There will be anchors for each actor - something that works all the way through - and then things will come on and come off."

For instance, one actor may wear a faded black jacket as a standard item, but put on a brightly coloured 28

wig to play a punk character.

The idea is “to make the costume elements 'characterful' and textural.”

Kirsty points out that Christopher’s hatred of yellow and brown means “obviously he won’t wear those colours, so we’re looking at red and blue for him.” The policemen are accurately kitted out, says Kirsty, with “vests with all the detail: walkie-talkies, bits and pieces.” Sara says “we're avoiding high-vis vests.

The hat will do the colour, which is the thing that says 'policeman'.

We like the graphic, the way it says 'police' on the back.” She notes that “Christopher reads everything” in the world around him, so words will feature on costumes, and also be projected on the set.

Costume textures and accessories will also delineate characters. Kirsty says “we talked about Ed being quite rumpled, and Mrs Alexander not being a clichéd cute old woman, but contemporary and interesting.” Other elements will come into play; Sara will add props to show Mrs. Alexander’s spirit,

Costume design reference

pointing out that “in the book when Chris meets her she's got an electric hedge trimmer, so I'm putting that

in. Later on when she tells him about the affair, she's scooping up dog poo... She's up for it all!”

•

Did you notice about the monochromatic palette? What impact did it have on you?What cultural connotations does absence of colour have?

•

Colour is used selectively for maximum impact. Choose one character and describe what the colour / texture of their costume communicates about their personality.

•

Explain how props and accessories are integrated with other elements of the design – lighting, AV etc – to form coherent stage pictures. Explain how the various stage technologies work together to convey a unified idea at a specific point in the play.

29

AV TIM GRUCHY

A AV DESIGN

“I created this as my first offering to Sara: a set of stills taken from my large library of mathematically created moving images. These have been created over the last 10 or 15 years.”

— Tim Gruchy, AV Designer

30

ccording to Tim Gruchy, “video projection is a form of lighting and can at times effectively be the lighting.

AV should work seamlessly with the lighting design; they should augment each other. An integrated colour palette across set, costume and lighting is important.”

Tim explains that with the AV “there are three approaches, three worlds: the diagrammatic stuff, the maths stuff, and the drawings. The idea of inhabiting this fabulous set with video – thinking about the games ideas, and the maths ideas – is a fantastic challenge.” Tim will use “two opposing pairs of projectors, which will allow us to cover the upper and lower sections of the set.

However, rather than just splashing video across everything, we're going to pre-map it in a very precise way, so the video will only be where we want it to be.”

Tim’s patterns have been mathematically-generated, which fits conceptually with Christopher’s thinking, but also has benefits in practical terms for the AV projection.

“Once we've honed the design, I can

go back and change the colour, or the speed, and all of those parameters; because they’re mathematicallygenerated, I can just change the algorithm.” Other projections will include “prime number sequences” splashed across the set as Christopher chants them.

However, “other portions of the video might only take place on one facet of one cube: in the TV moment, for instance.” Tim points out that sometimes “I use the video to establish location: a moving train, or a train station, for example. These tend to use specific parts of the set only. Other more general modes would be the enormity of space or an overwhelming flood. These inhabit the entire set.”

Tim says “I try and bring as wide a dynamic range of effects and responses as possible to my video designing. Generally, video is there to augment and emotionally amplify the work of the performers and shouldn’t overtly demand the audience’s attention. Having said that, it’s good to break all rules sometimes, so having some moments of spectacle is desirable. Getting outside the regular rectangle is where I like to be, and John's put me there, so I relish that!"

31

LIGHTING DESIGN “Working on a production with an AV component creates a whole new set of challenges. The lighting needs to allow for the performance to be seen, yet not wash out any projection.

— Jo Kilgour, Lighting Designer

“The nature of light means it does not stop once it has lit what it is pointing at – it carries on and lights other things in its path.”

LIGHTING JO KILGOUR

L

ighting designer Jo Kilgour says, “For this production of Curious, the lighting design needed to interact with the set and AV designs to support and enhance the production and allow the story to be played out as one complete package, as there is so much going on in all areas.”

“Working on a production with an AV component creates a whole new set of challenges. The lighting needs to allow for the performance to be seen, yet not wash out any projection. For example, if the AV is being projected on the floor then that imagery needs to be clearly seen, yet the actors may be standing on the floor and their faces need to be lit enough to allow the audience to be drawn into and connect with their world.”

34

Playing ‘in the round’ makes this more of a challenge. As Jo explains, “the nature of light means it does not stop once it has lit what it is pointing at – it carries on and lights other things in its path (this is called spill). Spill from light for one side of audience may travel and light the front row of the other side of the audience and in doing so wash out the projection on the floor.” In the round, actors must be sufficiently lit from all sides to ensure there is no area of the audience that feels removed from the production. With discussion and negotiation, “solutions can be incorporated into the design by a tweak to where each lighting unit is placed, or slight repositioning of an actor to allow for the best lighting and projection angles.”

•

Research the difference between standard theatre lighting and AV projection. What are the different pieces of equipment used to produce each? How do these work together?

•

Try drawing a basic lighting plan of a scene staged in the round or in traverse, showing the ‘spill’ of light beyond the actors onto the floor or audience. What do you need to do to ensure that the floor patterns are not washed out, or the audience is not blinded?

•

Explore how numbers and language are used in the AV projection. What do these symbols add to the audience’s experience, above and beyond their visual impact?

•

Choose one moment where the AV projection comes to the fore and is very noticeable. Explain how the scale and focus of the projection contributes to the scene’s meaning.

•

What might Tim Gruchy mean by “getting outside the regular rectangle”? How did you experience this as an audience member through the AV design?

35

SOUND THOMAS PRESS

T SOUND “I like it when it rains hard.

It sounds like white noise everywhere, which is like silence but not empty.”

he soundscape of Curious will be "built up of repetitions”, sound designer Thomas Press explains.

“It starts off with one sound here, and another sound that is slightly longer or shorter; by repeating them and putting them out of sequence, you build up new rhythms and sounds. We may do the same with the voices on this.

Some of the voice stuff later in the play, we'll try to catch that live

and move it around the space to build that sound.”

Director Sara Brodie adds: “the way we think it's going to layer up is to start with natural spoken voice delivered by the actors, and then that will turn into the soundscape, which morphs and shifts and is directional as well. Where we place the speakers is up for grabs at the moment. We'll be playing not just with the sound, but where it comes from.”

— Christopher Boone, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.

37

ADDITIONAL READING AND RESOURCES •

“Author Mark Haddon” Fresh Air, NPR. Radio interview. Published online 17-06-2005.

URL: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4707767 Web.

•

“Mark Haddon” URL: http://www.markhaddon.com/ Web.

•

“Simon Stephens”. Bloomsbury Publishing.

URL: http://www.bloomsbury.com/author/simon-stephens-3358 Web.

•

“Teachers’ Resource Kit – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime – by Mark Haddon.” Random House.

URL: http://www.randomhouse.co.nz/content/teachers/tn_ curiousincidentofthedoginthenighttime_apr04.pdf Web.

•

“The National Theatre production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.”

URL: http://curiousonbroadway.com/ Web.

•

“The National Theatre production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime – Education Pack.” National Theatre Learning. Curve Online, 2013.

URL: http://www.curveonline.co.uk/content/uploads/2014/11/ TheCuriousIncident_NTBackgroundPack_2013.pdf Web.

Mind Over Manner is a New Zealand organisation that works with people like Christopher, and their communities (families, colleagues), to develop strategies to interact without being overwhelmed or distressed. For individuals who experience sensory processing differences or alternate cognitive responses, ordering priorities or meeting expectations can frequently result in confused or oppositional behaviour.

— www.mindovermanner.co.nz

38

ATC EDUCATION

A

TC Education promotes and encourages teaching and participation in theatre and acts as a resource for secondary and tertiary educators. It is a comprehensive and innovative education programme designed to nurture young theatre practitioners and future audiences.

ATC Education has direct contact with secondary school

students throughout the greater Auckland region with a focus on delivering an exciting and popular programme that supports the Arts education of Auckland students and which focuses on curriculum development, literacy and the Arts.

Auckland Theatre Company acknowledges that the experiences enjoyed by the youth of today are reflected in the vibrancy of theatre in the future.

CURRICULUM LINKS

A

TC Education activities relate directly to the PK, UC and CI strands of the NZ Curriculum from levels 5 to 8. They also have direct relevance to many of the NCEA achievement standards at all three levels.

All secondary school Drama students (Years 9 to 13) should be experiencing live theatre as a part of their course work, Understanding the Arts in Context. Curriculum

levels 6, 7 and 8 (equivalent to years 11, 12 and 13) require the inclusion of New Zealand drama in their course of work.

The NCEA external examinations at each level (Level 1 – AS90011, Level 2 – AS91219, Level 3 – AS91518) require students to write about live theatre they have seen. Students who are able to experience fully produced, professional theatre are generally advantaged in answering these questions.

39

22