I have not read the novel by Mark Haddon on which Simon Stephens’ play of the same name, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (National Theatre, London, broadcast online and received at St James Cavalier cinema, Valletta) is based, so this review is based solely on this dramatised version.

The set design is minimalistic, but the technical expertise devoted to it is astounding- Paul Xuereb

The National Theatre has become well known for the unusual and technologically distinguished productions it has been presenting from time to time.

This production, directed with remarkable skill by Marianne Eliot, is a memorable example of this genre. The protagonist is a 15-year-old boy, Christopher, who is affected by Asperger’s syndrome.

He has a genius for mathematics, is fascinated by astronomy and has an enormous memory for all kinds of intellectual and factual information. On the other hand, he is unable to cope with most of the realities of everyday life and is apt to run amok if he meets any person, familiar or not, who behaves unpleasantly or, to his mind, unreasonably, to him.

The plot is set off when Christopher finds Wellington, a dog belonging to his neighbours the Shears, lying dead with a garden fork stuck in him.For a short time he is suspected of being the killer, is arrested by the police and attacks the arresting policeman, but this is soon cleared up and Christopher decides to investigate the killing and tokeep a detailed notebook about his investigation.

Moreover, he follows the advice of his teacher Siobhan to make a play about the events that befall him. Marianne Eliot and her very skilful designer and technical people make us believe that what we are watching is the play Christopher has written and that the production is actually his. The acting area at the Cottesloe Theatre is in the round, and sometimes we see Christopher creating topographic designs on its surface. The set design is minimalistic, but the technical expertise devoted to it is astounding. This is the kind of production only a great theatre can afford to put on.

There are scenes where Christopher’s perception of the outside world is conveyed brilliantly. I am thinking, in particular, about the sequence portraying his journey from Swindon (where he lives) to London, where his mother (whom he has discovered to be alive) lives.

Christopher is scared of strange environments and has never travelled beyond his neighbourhood, so the whole trip – railway station, train journey and journey on the tube – is nightmarish, done in a penumbra and involving his being carried around at speed by a number of strangers. The chilliest moment is when his pet rat falls down on the tracks of the tube train and Christopher is saved by a bystander in the nick of time when he goes down to save it.

For the first part of the first act, Christopher believes what his father Ed has told him, that his mother is dead. He is then told by a neighbour that she has actually run off with the neighbour to whom the dead dog belongs. Ed is bringing Christopher up, not always wisely, and he has also kept from him the many letters his mother has mailed to him.

Family breakdown is one of the play’s themes, but the play’s ending opens up hope for Christopher who now goes to live with his mother, while also keeping in touch withhis father.

The cast belongs to the high order we have come to expect of London’s National Theatre. Luke Treadaway is a very convincing Christopher, scared of physical contact with other humans and happiest when playing with things like his model trains, which become impressively akin to real trains at one point in his journey.

He fulfils the playwright’s aim to make us see the world the way he perceives it, making us fully aware of his genius for mathematics and for the comprehension of the universe. He conveys no sense of humour and the only tenderness he feels is for his pet rat, and laterfor the puppy his father gives him. But the audience’s heart goes outto him.

In the closing moments of the play, when Christopher has just passed a maths examination brilliantly, he imagines the great things he can achieve in the future – university degrees, becoming a scientist and the like.

But when he asks if he will be capable of doing anything he desires, he gets no answer. The playwright here reminds us that Christopher will always have great problems, and is unlikely to live happily ever after.

The boy’s parents, Ed and Judy – portrayed in two fine performances by Paul Ritter and Nicola Walker – both love the boy, but sometimes treat him quite wrongly. They both realise how wrong they have been, and by the end of the play, though they remain separated from each other, they have learned much about their son and his needs.

This is a play that is both thrilling and complex. Theatre people have also much to learn from it.