Review: Den besynnerliga händelsen med hunden om natten

The direction and set design take the plunge in Lillanpjäs

The staging at Lilla Teatern of Mark Haddon’s most famous novel The Strange Incident with the Dog at Night surprises positively thanks to an exuberant direction and the fireworks scenography. Nor does the acting leave anything to be desired.

The play’s narrator, fifteen-year-old Christopher Boone (Alexander Wendelin) with Asperger’s syndrome, has great problems getting his life to go around. His severe disability does not prevent director Paavo Westerberg and set designer Sven Dahlberg, in collaboration with video designer Tomi Haaranen, from focusing on the joy and carnivalism of an existence that could be described as monotonous and pitch black from another point of view.

For example, when the protagonist is about to get to London and is at the train station, the world explodes in all its details in dazzling colors and loud sounds, mixed with the thump of trains and billowing smoke, effectively visualized in set design and with video cannons. To be able to turn it all off, Christopher sits down and does as he usually does – starts counting in his head.

Christopher has created his own rules to cope with his life and all the impressions that overwhelm him, he is extremely talented in mathematics and logical thinking, but hates to be touched and does not understand sarcasm or that people can have emotions. If something goes against him, he reacts with blackout and unconsciousness.

Intrigue

As if that wasn’t enough, Christopher is accused of killing the neighbor’s dog – with a fork. To prove his innocence, he begins to unravel the murder.

Yes, talk about a play with several bases, because underneath the dead dog, which unexpectedly plunges onto the stage from the ceiling in a rope, lies the secret of his father (Robert Kock) and mother (Vuokko Hovatta). At the same time, Christopher, who can’t lie, learns that there are others who do it in his immediate surroundings, but that there is empathy and love in our world.

Slapstick

If the Anglo-Saxon story of a family drama is the most traditional and expected in the performance – an underdog who becomes a “hero” – the direction and set design are full of surprises.

It seems as if they should have given it a try not to delve into the darkness but rather take advantage of every opportunity for laughter and light. It takes different forms, such as when a number of props in turn fall down in ropes from the ceiling in front of the actors to the accompaniment of sound effects. Or when the ensemble dances and sings in the middle of it all, not to mention the slapstick-like scenes at the train station where everyone runs in the doors, either on the run or in search of each other.

Good taste

Joachim Wegelius, Pia Runnakko and Ulriikka Heikinheimo are responsible for the greatest comedy, Cecilia Paul, Vuokko Hovatta and Robert Kock for more studied emotional overtures.

At the centre is the 27-year-old actor Alexander Wendelin, now a 27-year-old actor, familiar from the Lurens Summer Theatre, who manages to create a simultaneously subdued but also dynamic and positive lead character that feels both alive and genuine. His biggest and best role without a doubt.

The video projections with nature motifs from Cork are combined with Philip Glass’s minimalist modern music like a glove in a play that offers newly angled theatre with equal parts good taste and big heart.