Curious Incident: New Cast Announced!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which is running at the Apollo Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, received seven Olivier Awards this year, including Best New Play, as well as the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Theatre, and has now been seen by over 100,000 people in the West End.  The show is booking to October 2014.

Mike Noble will play Christopher Boone.  He is joined by Rakie Ayola as Christopher’s teacher, Siobhan, Daniel Casey as Roger Shears,  Jo Dockery as Punk Girl, Amanda Drew as Judy, Patrick Driver as Reverend Peters, Trevor Fox as Ed, Jack Loxton as the alternate Christopher, Golda Rosheuvel as Mrs Shears, Gay Soper as Mrs Alexander and Paul Stocker as Mr Thompson. The cast is completed by Katie Elizabeth Payne, Mark Rawlings, Matt Tait and Cathy Walker.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, based on Mark Haddon’s best-selling novel, has been adapted by Simon Stephens and directed by Marianne Elliott.  It transferred to the West End after a sell-out run at the National’s Cottesloe Theatre last year. The current company continues until 31 August 2013.

Mike Noble recently played Billy Keats in the National Theatre production of Simon Stephens’ Port, also directed by Marianne Elliott.  His films include: Kill Command, The Rules of the Game, Jack Ryan, Jadoo and Private Peaceful.

Rakie Ayola recently played Paulina in the RSC’s production of The Winter’s Tale directed by Lucy Bailey.  Her TV work includes Stella, Silent Witness, My Almost Famous Family and Doctor Who.

Daniel Casey is well known to television viewers as Sergeant Troy in Midsomer Murders.  Other television work includes: Marchlands, George Gently, The Royal and Our Friends in the North.  His theatre work includes a tour of Star Quality, Kes at Liverpool Playhouse, and A Number for Manchester Library Theatre.

Jo Dockery’s previous National Theatre credits include Timon of Athens and Antigone. Jo’s other theatre credits include Ovid’s Metamorphoses for Pants on Fire Theatre Company, as well as Macbeth at Stafford Gatehouse

Amanda Drew’s previous National Theatre credits include: Olivia in Peter Hall’s production of Twelfth Night. Amanda has also performed seasons at the RSC, the Royal Court and the Almeida theatres. She recently played Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Liverpool Playhouse.  Her TV work includes Cate in Broadchurch, and Dr May Wright in Eastenders.

Patrick Driver’s recent theatre credits include Bus Stop at the New Vic Stoke and Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, Treasure Island at the Watermill Newbury, and Faith Healer, Othello and Drowning on Dry Land at Salisbury Playhouse.  Television credits include: The Whistleblowers, Holby City, The Office, Doctors and Peepshow.  Patrick is co-artistic director of Dialogue Productions.

Trevor Fox’s theatre credits include: Gabriel and The Tempest at Shakespeare’s Globe, the Fool in King Lear at the Almeida Theatre and Lee Hall’s The Pitman Painters at The Duchess Theatre, on tour, in New York and at the National Theatre.  His films include Bridget Jones – the Edge of Reason and Billy Elliot. His television work includes Joe Maddison’s War and Our Friends in the North.

Jack Loxton’s theatre credits include: Serious Money and Henry VI, Part III – both at Birmingham Rep.

Golda Rosheuvel’s theatre credits include: You Can’t Take it with You at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, Marat/Sade, The Tempest, Antony and Cleopatra and Julius Caesar for the RSC.  Golda’s TV work includes: Mr Stink, Luther, and Torchwood and films include Cathy in Coma Girl.

Gay Soper’s previous work for the National Theatre includes Mother Courage in 1996.  Other theatre work includes: Maurice’s Jubilee (UK tour), The Busy Body at Southwark Playhouse, a tour of Doctor in the House and Lend me a Tenor at the Gielgud Theatre.

Paul Stocker’s theatre work includes: Laugh Your Farce Off at the Pleasance Theatre, Billy Chickens is a Psychopath Superstar at the Latitude Festival and Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.  He recently appeared in Lemon La Vida Loca on television and his films include Laura and Atonement.

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 Associate Director is Katy Rudd.

Christopher, fifteen years old, stands beside 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, 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 he distrusts strangers. But his detective work, forbidden by his father, takes him on a frightening journey that upturns his world.

Simon Stephens’ play Port (originally produced at the Royal Exchange and also directed by Marianne Elliott) was revived at the National Theatre’s Lyttelton Theatre this 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 and 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 transfers to the West End this summer. Simon is an Associate at the Lyric, Hammersmith.

Marianne Elliott is an Associate Director at the National, where her productions include the award-winning War Horse (co-directed with Tom Morris), 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).  Marianne recently directed Sweet Bird of Youth for the Old Vic.  Marianne’s next production for the National is The Light Princess.

Mark Haddon’s 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.  It 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, Mark Haddon’s new novel, has just been published by Vintage in paperback. This title is already available in hardback and ebook.

 There is an accompanying learning programme for schools including workshops, pre-show Q&As and a Curious about Devising project offering ASD and neuro-typical students the chance to integrate through collaborative theatre-making.