21 Mar 2016

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – a triumph and a sold out show!

The Year 12 and 13 BTEC students’ performance of ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’, based on Mark Haddon’s 2003 novel, played to a packed house and captivated audience on 16th March 2016.

The performance begins with a light show of the solar system that reveals Christopher squatting down next to a dead dog with a garden fork through him.  Christopher decides to ‘do detecting’ to try to find out who the murderer is – who remains ‘at large’ for most of Act 1.  An unsettled home life and a shocking discovery sets him off on a journey to find a new home in London. Drama Teacher Sophie Welsh; “An ensemble cast of multi-role and amazing movement sequences tell the story of this journey.”

The cast kicked-off the physical rehearsals in January with a workshop from Frantic Assembly, the physical theatre company that choreographed the play in London’s West End. The students learnt how to choreograph physical theatre and the resulting high energy performance saw them leaping, flying and spinning in order to communicate Christopher’s unique interior mind.

Gareth Stevens, Vice Principal, said; “The show was such a triumph. It featured some of the best individual performances I have ever seen at Island School. I was curious to see how the cast would do the book justice, but I needn’t have worried. Captivating!”

Drama Teacher Sophie Welsh and student teacher Jess De Borja said; “We are so proud of this group of exceptional students; their dedication and performance has resulted in an epic show!  All those rehearsals were definitely worth while!”

See a video of the opening scenes on Facebook