Curious Incident: Facts and Figures
Are you a fact and figures geek? Have you ever wondered how many articulated lorries it takes to move The Curious Incident set from one venue to another? How many lighting cues there are in one show? Or, What Toby the rat’s favourite treat is? Well, wonder no more as we reveal the secrets behind The National Theatre’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time…
Written by Kelly Scotney.
(information from Oct 2021)
Production
- The original National Theatre production opened in September 2012
- Curious Incident has played in 108 towns and cities around the world, for over 3000 performances and been seen by over 5 million people
- The Broadway production opened in Sep 2014, where it ran until Sep 2016; it was the longest running play on Broadway in over a decade
- The first tour of the UK and Ireland ran from Dec 2014 to Nov 2015
- Curious Incident toured internationally in 2017-18, visiting Amsterdam; Toronto in Canada; Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra in Australia; Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in China
- The role of Christopher Boone has been played by 18 actors since the show opened in 2012. Luke Treadaway, who originated the role at the National Theatre received an Olivier Award for Best Actor for the role and Alex Sharp won the Best Actor Tony Award® for originating the role on Broadway
Awards
- A record-breaking 7 2013 Olivier Awards including:
- Best New Play
- Best Director – Marianne Elliott
- Best Sound Design – Ian Dickinson and Adrian Sutton
- Best Lighting Design – Paule Constable
- 5 Tony Awards® 2015 including:
- Best Play – Simon Stephens
- Best Scenic Design of a Play – Bunny Christie
- What’s On Stage Awards 2013: Best Play
- Drama League Award: Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play
- Outer Critics Circle Award:
- Outstanding New Broadway Play – Simon Stephens
- Outstanding Actor in a Play – Alex Sharp
Fun Facts: Lighting/Set
- The lighting rig for Curious Incident is based on a grid that reflects the black shape of the playing space
- The idea for the light up dots or pixels in the floor was based on the film The Matrix!
- There are around 373 lighting cues
- There are 2km LEDs
- 5 tons of steel in the walls and floor
- 14 one-tonne chain hoists to hold the lighting rig and build motor
- 4 x 13.5 meter articulated lorries to carry it all
- There are a total of 1,136,275 squares in the floor of the set
- Curious uses 3 pieces of chalk for every performance and there are always two pieces on standby
Fun Facts: Sound/Video/Animals
- 50 individual speakers in the auditorium
- 234 sound cues made up of 2593 different elements
- 12 radio mics used on the cast with Christopher and Siobhan wearing two each as a backup
- All the music in the show is based on prime number sequences
- The Video cabling is of military grade to assure the show moves smoothly between venues
- There are 6 projectors in the rig driven by 4 Catalyst Media Servers; this totals 10.5 million pixels of projection across the stage
- Toby the rat’s favourite treat is yoghurt!
- There are 2 Toby’s who share performances at each venue – they even have their own place on the billing board at the theatre!
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is at The Grand from Tue 12 – Sat 16 April, tickets are still available to book.
Do not miss out on this timeless theatrical experience that will capture your heart and imagination.
