By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Whodunits have been a staple of Black Swamp Players’ seasons for many years.
Sherlock and his brethren have bravely trod the various stages the Players have graced.
The Players’ current production “The Curious Incident of a Dog at Night-Time” could be viewed as a mystery, but it goes places its predecessors have dared venture, and while the actual whodunit part of the show is settled midway through, that’s just precipitates a jolt into new territory.
The Players’ “The Curious Incident of a Dog at Night-Time” opens tonight (April 21) in the Players’ home at 115 E. Oak Street and continues with shows Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. continuing next weekend Friday, April 28, and Saturday, April 29, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, April 30, fat 2 p.m. or Tickets for general admission seating are $20 each. Click for tickets. The script by Simon Stephens is adapted from a novel by Mark Haddon
As patrons enter, they are confronted with the grisly sight of a dog with a garden fork, that is a pitchfork, protruding from its lifeless body. (It’s stuffed, of course. No animals were hurt in the staging of this production.) When the play begins, Mrs. Shears (Emily Harel) is bitterly accusing her teenage neighbor Christopher (Kylie Schmehl) of killing the dog, Wellington. From the teen’s first reactions to the woman, it’s clear he perceives the world through a different lens. His responses focus on the facts of the matter. Strongly rooted in reality – he has no use or understanding for metaphors. He is, he says, incapable of lying.
He also recoils from any physical touch, and when questioned by a police officer (River Slone) and the officer touches him, he reflectively strikes back. That earns him a trip to the station and questioning by the duty officer (Steve Bishop), and a warning against getting into further trouble because then he would be dealt with more seriously.
We learn that Christopher lives alone with his father Ed (Heath Diehl). His mother (Gabrielle Southwell) is dead, he recounts, offering the memory of how he was told.
Christopher becomes determined to find out who killed Wellington and sticks to it despite his father’s disapproval, the police warning that’s hanging over his head, and his admitted fear of talking to strangers. “To do detection you have to be brave, so I had no choice,” Christopher says.
All this is filtered through the book the teen is writing about his investigation.
He shares this with his teacher Sibohan (Monica Hiris). She reads aloud from the text, commenting gently as she goes. Noting his ability to capture the smallest details.
This frame gives the narrative a sense of floating in time with the present, the recent past, the more distant past, and even the future in which Christopher dreams of being an astronaut, flowing together.
Christopher is a mathematical savant. Throughout when he’s under stress, he starts reciting a series of numbers. It’s clearly a sequence, but what’s the sequence? Another mystery.
Throughout we meet the people in his world – the neighbors including Mrs. Alexander (Annelise Clifton), teacher, shop keepers, ticket takers, and passengers on a train. They are portrayed by actors designated simply as “Voices.” Harel, Bishop, Slone, Warren Clifton, Jerilyn Kessinger, and Annelise Clifton provide those voices. This ensemble paints a vivid portrait of the world Christopher moves through.
Hiris mixes sympathy with the thinnest edge of authority as the person closest Christopher. She knows just how far, and how gently, to ease him out of his shell.
Diehl projects Ed’s struggle to connect with his son while at the same time protecting him and creating a safe environment. Southwell portrays the mother as a woman on the edge.
Schmehl is totally absorbed in her character. She’s on stage almost the entire time. All the action is refracted through Christopher’s sensibility.
(Schmehl portrays Christopher this weekend. Nicholas Yates takes over the role next weekend. Director Julie Zatko said both had such strong auditions and the role is so demanding, she decided to give them both a chance. Yates, she said, brings such a different perspective to Christopher that it’s almost a different show.)
Fearing for his life, Christopher flees his suburban home, navigating his way to London with the help of the voices of his father and Sibohan in his head.
He only returns to take his A-level mathematics exam on which his future hangs.
The play includes an epilogue in which Christopher, surrounded by all the characters he and we have encountered, recounts how he solved his favorite problem on the exam. You’re forgiven if you can’t follow it, but Schmehl delivers it with such in-character enthusiasm that you’ll cheer him on – and cheer on the actor who had to memorize the thorny calculations. And cheer on the Players for tackling such a challenging and intriguing story.
