Space

The final frontier, etc. After months embedded in the head of Christopher Boone, I'm afraid to say that I'm no closer to an undiscovered passion for maths. However, like him, I do have a passing interest in outer space. I was reminded of this last night as I walked back to my Southampton digs after the show: the dull mile that punctuates my day. Being late June, the sky was far from dark at about 10.15pm; but I could see two solitary, distinct lights in the sky.

I guessed that the brighter of the two was Venus (I don't know much about stars, but I remember my dad telling me that the brightest star in the sky was in fact our neighbouring planet); and a brief bit of investigation (what did we do before smartphones?) quickly led me to discover that I was, with my naked eye, looking at Jupiter.

That's right: Jupiter. The largest planet in our solar system, at a distance of at least 365 million miles, just casually making an appearance in the evening sky (and its moons, if you look even closer). I try to never use the word 'awesome'; but how can you not feel awe at something like that?

I'll have another look on my way back tonight, too. By then we will have just completed our 200th show. Still a way to go.

Returning

And...we're back. After a much-needed break, we picked up the tour again last night with our first show at the Mayflower Theatre, Southampton; and another record-breaker - the largest audience this production has played to, anywhere in the world: 1,899 people.

Last night, the audience's audible reactions were mostly happy ones. It's not always that way: in the last few weeks, I've heard some very distressed - and distressing - reactions: crying, even screaming. There are elements of this play which, for personal reasons, touch nerves. In Leicester, I was contacted on Twitter by a mother who'd brought her son, who suffered seizures as a result of the lights and was incredibly distressed by a scene that featured domestic violence. She said that she'd found it exhausting, that she was totally wrung out; but also that it was some of the most powerful theatre she'd ever seen. Despite the exhaustion of bringing her son, she was kind enough to say that "I guess you know you've created powerful drama when your audience cries, screams and has seizures". Well, yes. As distressing as it is to hear those sounds, it's gratifying to know that the overall effect is a positive and hopefully cathartic one (she's written more extensively about her experience here).

As another mother put it, talking about her autistic son:

"Imagine a world where it physically hurts you to enter a supermarket, or for a motorbike to pass you on the road. Where you can't stand the sound of a toilet flushing, and hand driers just send you into full scale meltdown. A situation where planning a family day out - and executing it - can be so stressful you wonder why you are putting yourselves through it. Where you feel guilty and bad for their siblings in case they feel neglected by all the attention the autistic child needs. Where having to take a new route home from school is so stressful it reduces both you and your mother to tears. Where being asked to try a new food makes you physically sick. Where you can't make yourself understood so you scream and hit the person you love the most. Where your biggest fear is the iPad losing charge or Tesco's running out of the ONLY biscuits they will eat. Where a change of product packaging can almost bring a family to its knees. It's horrible to watch your most treasured possession live with that. Day in and day out. It's not easy being screamed at, slapped, kicked, bitten or punched pretty much daily by your child because they have autism. But overcoming it together, your child accepting this or learning to tolerate it, however much it hurts them and upsets them...that rocks. Autistic people rock. They are inspirational warriors in a world that just isn't geared up for them yet. And actually, I wouldn't change my baby for the world. I just wish I could make the world around him easier."

A reminder: we are doing a special relaxed performance here in Southampton next week, specifically for an audience that might see the world this way. I hope as many people as possible can take advantage of this: it promises to be a unique day for all of us.

Leicester

We opened tonight with the first of eight shows at the Curve Theatre, Leicester. As with Cardiff back in April, this is of particular significance because it's the home town of one of the cast: in this case, Chris Ashby, our alternate Christopher Boone. Chris was on BBC Radio Leicester yesterday, talking about what this means to him. You can listen to his interview here for the next few weeks: it starts at 1.09.30.

Yesterday also saw the announcement that Curious Incident on Broadway had won five Tony Awards (named after co-founder of the American Theatre Wing, Antoinette Perry):

Best Play
Best Leading Actor in a Play (Alex Sharp)
Best Director of a Play (Marianne Elliott)
Best Scenic Design of a Play (Bunny Christie and Finn Ross)
Best Lighting Design of a Play (Paule Constable)

Here are their acceptance speeches:

Sherlock

Serious Sherlock Holmes fans know full well that “the curious incident of the dog in the night-time” is a phrase from Arthur Conan Doyle’s story Silver Blaze, published in 1892. The dog - or, more precisely, the dog not barking: the lack of any curious incident at all - is crucial (the significance of the dog’s silence may even be a clue in both stories, if you’re really sharp).

Sherlock Holmes is Christopher Boone’s hero. Apart from the fact that he is fictional, Holmes is the perfect role model: he views life dispassionately and bases his conclusions on hard facts and probability, rather than on the confusing minefield of emotions. Christopher wouldn’t put it like that, because he doesn't like metaphors. But, to him, his other passion - maths - is a kind of detection, and vice-versa: both are concerned with and determined by examining the facts in order to produce a reasonable conclusion or prediction.

The popularity of Holmes has soared in the last five years, thanks to Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat’s genre-redefining Sherlock. So much so that people now refer to him simply by his first name, as they would Elvis or Beyoncé. I wonder whether Christopher would be a 'Sherlock' fan: on the one hand, it would feel modern and accessible to him. But it plays with the genre, and I don’t know how Christopher would feel about that. Significantly, Holmes - particularly in Moffat and Gatiss' interpretation - is socially inept: he cannot maintain conventional social behaviour, nor relationships. He is, by his own description, a high-functioning sociopath.

Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, practiced medicine in Plymouth and lived in Birmingham: all cities that we have visited on this tour. In March, while we were in Plymouth, every day I walked past the building in which he worked. Last week, in Birmingham, there was a Conan Doyle convention. Doyle supposedly bought a violin here, in Sherlock Street: allegedly the inspiration for the character's name (a friend, who knows about these things, tells me that he was going to be called Sherringford). In Mark Haddon's novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles is Christopher's favourite book: an entire chapter is devoted to Christopher's analysis of the story. Some say the name Baskerville also hails from Birmingham.

There are many more references to Doyle and to Holmes in Mark Haddon's book than there are in Simon Stephens' play. It's a measure of the lasting popularity of Sherlock Holmes that, occasionally, fans feel compelled to point this out.

To quote Doyle, and to paraphrase Haddon:

"...his mind...was busy in endeavouring to frame some scheme into which all these strange and apparently disconnected episodes could be fitted." And that is what I am trying to do by writing this blog.

Relaxed

A theatre can be a pretty noisy and intimidating place sometimes. Our show, for example, features strobe lights, loud music and sound effects; in creating a world that can, at times, assault the senses, it can be difficult for some people. Just occasionally I'll read a comment on Twitter, from an audience member, that says as much.

Which is why, on July 2nd, at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton, we will be giving a relaxed performance of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. This is an opportunity for those who may not usually be able to go to the theatre to come and see our show: in a specially-adapted version, aimed at those for whom it might otherwise be a testing experience.

There's a useful set of answers here from our producer Lauren King on what can be expected on July 2nd. In addition, here are two short and specially filmed interviews with Head of Sound Adam Taylor and lead actor Joshua Jenkins, in which they discuss how the show will be different:

All tickets for this performance are £15 and can be booked here, or by calling 02380 711811.

Update: you can find out how it went by clicking here.