The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time (MTC, National Theatre)

Few new plays have been as enthusiastically received as The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time; when it opened at London's National Theatre in 2012, the city was immediately abuzz with the sound of rave reviews and box-office cash registers. Almost six years later, with a slew of awards to its name - including seven Oliviers and five Tonys — this much-hyped production has arrived in Australia, and it certainly lives up to its reputation.

But this unstoppable success is as surprising as it is well-deserved. Mark Haddon's bestselling book of the same title is an unlikely candidate for adaptation, not least because it's written in the first-person perspective of a 15-year-old boy, Christopher Boone, who (we can assume) is at an extreme end of the autistic spectrum. Upon discovering his neighbour's dog stabbed to death with a garden fork, our young hero embarks upon a mission of discovery, in a quirky whodunit that transforms into a wrought, wrenching family drama. Navigating this shifting emotional territory is no mean feat for Christopher. Although equipped with an impressive aptitude for maths, and a love of all things astronomical, he finds the nuances of human communication baffling, he cannot bear being touched, and his inability to filter the barrage of information the world hurls at him makes even the most mundane, everyday task an overwhelming struggle.

Haddon's stylised prose was praised for offering a demystifying window on the autistic experience in a way that was both instructive and deeply touching. But on stage, this essential subjectivity is far harder to convey. However, playwright-adaptor Simon Stephens and Director Marianne Elliott tackle this issue with impressive flair, offering a faithful depiction of Haddon's narrative while employing a dazzlingly complex amount of stagecraft to hopscotch over this dramatisation's potential pitfalls.

Although that's not to say the audience needs to be aware of the expert problem-solving that has gone into conjuring this rich, nimble, playful world. Supported by a rock-solid ensemble cast, helmed by the excellent Joshua Jenkins as the play's central protagonist, this rigorous and resourceful storytelling appears almost effortless.

Technical sophistication is something Australian audiences have come to expect from British theatre imports - last year's tour of Duncan Macmillan's confronting adaptation of Orwell's 1984 a superb case in point. But The Curious Incident is more than just bells and whistles. This is a production that justifies every piece of equipment on its extensive rider with a brilliant dramatic payoff. Bunny Christie's gridded set, punctuated by a lattice of LEDs, is a perfect manifestation of Christopher's mind; a place where logic and order is immovable. Paule Constable and Finn Ross's lighting and video design, in tandem with Ian Dickson's soundscape, offer a glimpse of the information overload Christopher must wrestle with, while artfully guiding the story through its various locations.

And it's this thoughtfully rendered vantage point that makes this play so thoroughly rewarding. Haddon and Stephens are far from the first to use autism as a dramatic device, but oftentimes these characterisations can be blunt, sweeping and generalised. Here, however, Christopher Boone's inner world is all, his actions clearly connected to rational thought and relatable need. The result is a production that moves without being mawkish. Even as we see the frustration and concern of the adults around him, the emotional truths of both Christopher and the halo of other characters he encounters are able to coexist in beautifully judged counterpoint; a combination that leaves both heart and head full to the brim.

Melbourne Theatre Company presents The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time until 25 Feb at Arts Centre Melbourne.