The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, the annual fall play, was performed by the high school drama department on November 4th-6th, and let me tell you, it was great. I walked into the play not truly knowing what it was about. Sure, the title may have given it away a tiny bit, but nothing prepared me for the twists and emotions this play would put me through.

Christopher Boone, played by junior Matthew Menedez, is an autistic 15-year-old who is on a mission to discover who had killed his neighbor’s dog. What made this interesting was that it was told in two unique ways. Of course, the play was through the eyes of Christopher, however, in some parts of the play, it was as if the audience was physically reading the book and looking at everything unfold at the same time. This was because of the narrator, Siobhan, played by senior Rebecca Blitz.

I quite like the feel this new perspective gave us, it was fresh and unique and added some humor when they would break out the 4th wall later on. Matthew played his character exceptionally well. He truly engaged the audience and made us feel the angst and grief he was going through. Especially when he found out his father had killed the dog and his mother was still alive. This play was an emotional roller coaster, from Christopher discovering a murderer to finding out his mother had not died and instead left him and his father for another man. After they had disclosed that his mother was still alive, I was in shock, and I even felt betrayed alongside Christopher.

Now, this may be a little controversial, but I believe that his father, Ed, played by senior Max Penn, is a sympathetic character. He had the right to not want Christopher to have a relationship with his mom. The mom left her son for a man and left because she believed that she could not parent well. Some new parents feel like this but that does not mean to go and abandon them.

The acting tied this play together, the scene where Ed and Judy where arguing over the custody of Chris really tugged at the heart string.- it was phenomenal acting from the cast all around. All the cast had an intricate role and made this play truly what it was.

The set was well made and I enjoyed it. I believe it was a nice touch to use the projector to show the different locations they were taking us to. I also quite liked the idea of using the ensemble to be the voices inside his head. I also enjoyed how they used the actors to recreate stuff like microwaving his food or hanging his jacket on a coat rack.

My favorite scene was the ending scene: Early on, he was trying to explain his math equation and the steps he took to solve it, however, he was told to save it for the end. I thought this was just a joke because who wants to learn math when they are not in school? Christopher in fact went on at the end of the show and gave us a math lesson on how he solved his life-or-death equation, and I just thought it was a cute and funny touch.

Overall, this play was amazing, and I must thank everyone involved for putting it together. Not just the actors but Mrs. Butler, the drama teacher, and the amazing tech team who built the stage and managed the lights.