(Methuen Drama) Moore, Ruth - Travers, Martin - Bunyan, Paul - Breslin, Theresa - The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time - The Play-Bloomsbury Academic (2013)

Curious Incident Prelims:Meth B-format 7/1/13 20:32 Page i
The Curious Incident of the

Dog in the Night-Time
Curious Incident Prelims:Meth B-format 7/1/13 20:32 Page ii
Other titles available in Methuen Drama’s Critical Scripts series
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Willy Russell’s Our Day Out – The Musical

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Curious Incident Prelims:Meth B-format 7/1/13 20:32 Page iii

Based on the novel by
Mark Haddon
Adapted by
Simon Stephens
Activities by
Paul Bunyan and Ruth Moore
Critical Scripts Series Editors

Paul Bunyan and Ruth Moore
Methuen Drama
Bloomsbury Methuen Drama
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square 175 Fifth Avenue
London New York
WC1B 3DP NY 10010
UK USA
www.bloomsbury.com
This edition first published 2013
Play copyright © Simon Stephens, 2012
Adapted from the novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by
Mark Haddon first published in 2003 by Jonathan Cape, © Mark Haddon, 2003
This stage adaption first published in 2012 by Methuen Drama
Teaching activities copyright © Methuen Drama, 2013
Simon Stephens, Mark Haddon, Paul Bunyan and Ruth Moore hereby
assert their rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
to be identified as the authors of this work
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior
permission in writing from the publishers.
No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting
on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication
can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author.
All rights whatsoever in this play are strictly reserved and application for
performance etc. should be made before rehearsals by professionals to
Casarotto Ramsay & Associates Ltd, Waverley House, 7-12 Noel Street,
London W1F 8GQ, and by amateurs to Permissions Department,
Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 50 Bedford Square,
London WC1B 3DP. No performance may be given unless
a licence has been obtained.
No rights in incidental music or songs contained in the Work are hereby granted
and performance rights for any performance/ presentation whatsoever must be
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN
PB: 978-1-4081-8521-6
ePDF: 978-1-4081-8540-7
ePub: 978-1-4081-8354-0
Typeset by Country Setting, Kingsdown, Kent CT14 8ES
Printed and bound in Great Britain
CONTENTS
Characters 2
Part One 3
Part Two 53
Postscript 103
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: 107
Teaching and learning activities
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Curious Incident page 2
Characters
Christopher
Siobhan
Ed, Christopher’s dad
Mrs Alexander
Judy, Christopher’s mother
Mrs Shears / Voice One / Mrs Gascoyne / Woman on Train /
Woman on Heath
Policeman One / Voice Two / Mr Thompson / Rhodri / Man
behind Counter / Posh Man / Drunk Two / Shopkeeper /
Roger
Duty Sergeant / Voice Three / Mr Wise / Uncle Terry /
Drunk One / London Transport Policeman / Customer /
Man on Phone
Reverend Peters / Voice Four / Station Policeman / Ticket
Collector / Station Guard / Man with Socks / London
Policeman / Ukrainian One /
Number 44 / Voice Five / Lady in Street / Information /
Punk Girl / Ukrainian Two
All actors remain on stage unless prescribed otherwise.

There is also a dead dog. With a fork sticking out of it.
Scenes run into one another without interruption regardless of
alterations in space or time or chronology.
Part One
A dead dog lies in the middle of the stage. A large garden fork is
sticking out of its side.
Christopher Boone, fifteen years old, stands on one side of it. His
forty-two-year-old neighbour Mrs Shears stands on the other.
They stand for a while without saying anything. The rest of the
company watch, waiting to see who is going to dare to speak first.
Mrs Shears What in Christ’s name have you done to
my dog?
Christopher is frozen to the spot.
Mrs Shears Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh Christ.
Christopher’s teacher, twenty-seven-year-old Siobhan opens
Christopher’s book. She reads from it.
Siobhan It was seven minutes after midnight. The dog was
lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs
Shears’ house.
Mrs Shears Get away from my dog.
Siobhan Its eyes were closed. It looked as if it was running
on its side, the way dogs run when they think they are
chasing a cat in a dream. But the dog was not running or
asleep. The dog was dead.
Siobhan There was a garden fork sticking out of the dog.
The dog was called Wellington. It belonged to Mrs Shears
who was our friend. She lived on the opposite side of the
road, two houses to the left.
Christopher takes two steps away from the dog.
4 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Siobhan My name is Christopher John Francis Boone. I

know all the countries of the world and the capital cities.
And every prime number up to 7507.
Mrs Shears Get away from my dog, for Christ’s sake.
Christopher puts his hands over his ears. He closes his eyes.
He rolls forward. He presses his forehead on to the grass. He
starts groaning.
Siobhan After twelve and a half minutes a policeman
arrived. He had a big orange leaf stuck to the bottom of his
shoe which was poking out from one side. This is good,
Christopher. It’s quite exciting. I like the details. They make
it more realistic.
A Policeman enters. He has a big orange leaf stuck to the bottom of
his shoe, which is poking out to one side. He squats next to
Christopher.
Siobhan He squatted down next to me. He said to me:
Policeman One Would you like to tell me what’s going on
here, young man?
Christopher stops groaning.
There is some time.
Christopher lifts his head from the ground.
There is some time.
Christopher looks at the Policeman.
There is some time.
Siobhan I do not tell lies. Mother used to say that this was
because I was a good person. But it is not because I am a
good person. It is because I can’t tell lies.
Christopher The dog is dead.
Policeman One I’d got that far.
Christopher I think someone killed the dog.
Policeman One How old are you?
Part One 5
Christopher I’m fifteen years and three months and

two days.
Policeman One And what precisely are you doing in
the garden?
Christopher I’m talking to you.
Policeman One Why were you in the garden in the first
place?
Christopher I could see Wellington in the garden, it
looked like someone tried to plant him.
Policeman One Did you try to plant the dog?
Christopher No, I did not. I like dogs.
Policeman One Did you kill the dog?
Christopher I did not kill the dog.
Policeman One Is this your fork?
Christopher No.
Policeman One You seem very upset about this.
I’m going to ask you once again.
Christopher starts groaning.
Policeman One Terrific.
Christopher carries on groaning.
Policeman One Young man I’m going to ask you to stop
making that noise and to stand up please calmly and quietly.
Christopher carries on groaning.
Policeman One Marvellous. Great. Just flipping –
The Policeman tries to lift him up by his arm.
Christopher screams. He hits the Policeman.
The Policeman stares at Christopher. For a while the two look at

one another, neither entirely sure what to say or quite believing what
has just happened.
Policeman One I’m arresting you for assaulting a
police officer.
I strongly advise you to get into the back of the police car
because if you try any of that monkey-business again, you
little shit, I am going to seriously lose my rag. Is that
understood?
Siobhan I find people confusing. This is for two main
reasons. The first main reason is that people do a lot of
talking without using any words. Siobhan says that if you
raise one eyebrow it can mean lots of different things. It can
mean ‘I want to do sex with you’. I never said that.
Christopher Yes you did.
Siobhan I didn’t use those words, Christopher.
Christopher You did on September 12th last year. At first
break.
Siobhan And it can also mean ‘I think that what you just
said was very stupid’.
Duty Sergeant Could you take your laces out of your shoes
please, Christopher?
He does.
Thank you. Could you empty your pockets on to the desk
please?
Christopher Is that in case I have anything in them that I
could use to kill myself or escape or attack a policeman with?
The Duty Sergeant looks at him for a beat.
Duty Sergeant That’s right.
Christopher I’ve got a Swiss Army knife but I only use that
for doing odd jobs not for stabbing things or hurting people.
Part One 7
Duty Sergeant Jolly good.

Voice Four A piece of string.
Voice Five A piece of a wooden puzzle.
Voice Six Three pellets of rat food for Toby, my rat.
Voice One £1.47 (this was made up of a £1 coin, a 20p coin,
two 10p coins, a 5p coin and a 2p coin).
Voice Six A red paperclip.
Voice Four A key for the front door.
Voice Five A Swiss Army knife with thirteen attachments
including a wire stripper and a saw and a toothpick and
tweezers.
Christopher empties his pockets.
Duty Sergeant Could you take your watch off please,
Christopher?
Christopher No.
Duty Sergeant I’m sorry, Christopher?
Christopher I need my watch to know exactly what time
it is.
Duty Sergeant Take your watch off please, Christopher.
Christopher, please will you take your watch off. I’m asking
you for a final time.
Give it here, lad.
The Duty Sergeant tries to take the watch.
Christopher starts screaming.
The Duty Sergeant stops. He moves away. He nods his head.
Christopher stops screaming.
Duty Sergeant It’s all right, son. You keep it.
Christopher calms down.
Duty Sergeant Do you have any family, Christopher?

Christopher Yes I do.
Duty Sergeant And who is your family?
Christopher Father and Mother but Mother’s dead. And
also Uncle Terry who is in Sunderland. He is my father’s
brother and my grandparents too but three of them are
dead and Grandma Burton is in a home because she has
senile dementia and thinks I’m someone on television.
Duty Sergeant Right. Lovely. Do you know your father’s
phone number, Christopher?
Christopher turns to Ed. Ed looks at him. He holds his hand out
in front of him with his fingers stretched.
Christopher does the same. They touch fingers.
Then let go.
Christopher I could see the Milky Way as we drove
towards the town centre.
Ed Could you?
Christopher Some people think the Milky Way is a long
line of stars, but it isn’t. Our galaxy is a huge disc of stars of
millions of light years across and the solar system is
somewhere near the outer edge of the disc.
Ed says nothing.
Christopher For a long time scientists were puzzled by the
fact that the sky is dark at night even though there are
billions of stars in the universe and there must be stars in
every direction you look, so that the sky should be full of
starlight because there is very little in the way to stop the
light reaching earth.
Ed stares at him. Says nothing.
Christopher Then they worked out that the universe was
expanding, that the stars were all rushing away from one
Part One 9
another after the Big Bang and the further the stars were
away from us the faster they were moving, some of them
nearly as fast as the speed of light, which was why their light
never reached us.
Ed Is that right?
Christopher And when the universe has finished
exploding all the stars will slow down, like a ball that has
been thrown into the air and they will come to a halt and
they will all begin to fall towards the centre of the universe
again. And then there will be nothing to stop us seeing all
the stars in the world because they will all be moving towards
us, gradually faster and faster and we will know that the
world is going to end soon because when we look up into the
sky at night there will be no darkness, just the blazing light
of billions and billions of stars, all falling.
Ed Terrific.
Duty Sergeant Christopher. Mr Boone. Could you come
this way please?
Christopher Are you going to interview me and record
the interview?
Duty Sergeant I don’t think there will be any need for that.
I’ve spoken to your father and he says you didn’t mean to hit
the policeman.
Did you mean to hit the policeman?
Christopher Yes.
Duty Sergeant But you didn’t mean to hurt the policeman?
Christopher No. I didn’t mean to hurt the policeman, I
just wanted him to stop touching me.
Duty Sergeant You know that it’s wrong to hit a policeman
don’t you?
Christopher I do.
Duty Sergeant Did you kill the dog, Christopher?

Christopher I didn’t kill the dog.
Duty Sergeant Do you know that it is wrong to lie to a
policeman and that you can get into a very great deal of
trouble if you do?
Christopher Yes.
Duty Sergeant Do you know who killed the dog?
Christopher No.
Duty Sergeant Are you telling the truth?
Christopher Yes. I always tell the truth.
Duty Sergeant Right. I’m going to give you a caution.
Christopher Is that going to be on a piece of paper like a
certificate I can keep?
Duty Sergeant No. A caution means that we are going to
keep a record of what you did, that you hit a policeman but
that it was an accident and that you didn’t mean to hurt the
policeman.
Christopher But it wasn’t an accident.
Ed Christopher, please.
Duty Sergeant If you get into any more trouble we will
take out this record and see that you have been given a
caution and we will take things much more seriously. Do you
understand what I’m saying?
Christopher Yes.
Siobhan The second main reason is that people often talk
using metaphors. These are examples of metaphors:
Voice One I am going to seriously lose my rag.
Voice Two He was the apple of her eye.
Voice Three They had a skeleton in the cupboard.
Part One 11
Voice Four We had a real pig of a day.

Voice Five The dog was stone dead.
Siobhan The word metaphor means carrying something
from one place to another and it is when you describe
something by using a word for something that it isn’t. This
means that the word metaphor is a metaphor. Sorry?
This means that the word metaphor is a metaphor. Wow.
That’s clever.
Christopher It’s true.
Siobhan Yes. I think it should be called a lie because a pig
is not like a day and people do not have skeletons in their
cupboards. And when I try and make a picture of the phrase
in my head it just confuses me because imagining an apple
in someone’s eye doesn’t have anything to do with liking
someone a lot and it makes you forget what the person was
talking about.
Christopher turns to Ed.
Christopher I’m sorry.
Ed It’s OK.
Christopher I didn’t kill the dog.
Ed I know.
Christopher, you have to stay out of trouble, OK?
Christopher I didn’t know I was going to get into trouble.
I like Wellington and I went to say hello to him, but I didn’t
know that someone had killed him.
Ed Just try and keep your nose out of other people’s
business.
Christopher I am going to find out who killed Wellington.
Ed Were you listening to what I was saying, Christopher?
Christopher Yes, I was listening to what you were saying

but when someone gets murdered you have to find out who
did it so that they then can be punished.
Ed It’s a bloody dog, Christopher, a bloody dog.
Christopher I think dogs are important too.
Ed Leave it.
Christopher I wonder if the police will find out who killed
him and punish the person.
Ed I said leave it, for God’s sake.
Christopher Are you sad about Wellington?
Ed Yes, Christopher, you could say that. You could very
well say that.
Siobhan reads more from the book.
Siobhan Mother died two years ago.
I came home from school one day and no one answered the
door, so I went and found the secret key that we keep under
a flowerpot outside the kitchen window. I let myself into the
house and wiped my feet on the mat. I put my keys in the
bowl on the table. I took my coat off and hung by the side of
the fridge so it would be ready for school the next day and
gave three pellets of rat food to Toby who is my pet rat. I
made myself a raspberry milkshake and heated it up in the
microwave. Then I went up to my bedroom and turned on
my bedroom light and played six games of Tetris and got to
level 38 which is my fourth best ever score. An hour later
Father came home from work.
Ed Christopher, have you seen your mum?
Christopher No.
Siobhan He went downstairs and started making some
phone calls. I did not hear what he said. Then he came up to
my room and said he had to go out for a while and he wasn’t
Part One 13
sure how long he would be. He said that if I needed

anything I should call him on his mobile phone.
Some of the company look at Siobhan or Christopher or Ed
waiting to find out what happens next.
Siobhan He was away for two and a half hours. When he
came back I went downstairs.
Other characters watch Christopher as he approaches Ed.
Ed doesn’t look at Christopher. There is some time before
Ed speaks.
Ed I’m afraid you won’t be seeing your mother for a while.
Christopher Why not?
Ed Your mother has had to go into hospital.
Christopher Can we visit her?
Ed No.
Christopher Why can’t we?
Ed She needs rest. She needs to be on her own.
Christopher Is it a psychiatric hospital?
Ed No. It’s an ordinary hospital. She has a problem . . . a
problem with her heart.
Christopher We will need to take food to her.
Ed I’ll take some to her during the day when you’re at
school and I’ll give it to the doctors and they can give it to
your mum, OK?
Christopher But you can’t cook.
Ed Christopher. Look. I’ll buy some ready-made stuff from
Marks and Spencer’s and take those in. She likes those.
Christopher I’ll make her a get-well card.
If I make her a get-well card will you take it in for her

tomorrow?
Siobhan How are you today, Christopher?
Christopher I’m very well, thank you.
Siobhan That’s good.
Christopher In the bus on the way to school we passed
four red cars in a row.
Siobhan Four?
Christopher So today is a Good Day.
Siobhan Great. I am glad.
Christopher I’ve decided I am going to try and find out
who killed Wellington because a Good Day is a day for
projects and planning things.
Siobhan Who’s Wellington?
Christopher Wellington is a dog that used to belong to my
neighbour Mrs Shears who is our friend but he is dead now
because somebody killed him by putting a garden fork
through him. And I found him and then a policeman
thought I’d killed him but I hadn’t and then he tried
to touch me so I hit him and then I had to go to the
police station.
Siobhan Gosh.
Christopher And I am going to find out who really killed
Wellington and make it a project. Even though Father told
me not to.
Siobhan Did he?
Christopher Yes.
Siobhan I see.
Christopher I don’t always do what I’m told.
Siobhan Why?
Part One 15
Christopher Because when people tell you what to do it is

usually confusing and does not make sense. For example,
people often say ‘Be quiet’ but they don’t tell you how long
to be quiet for.
Siobhan No. Why did your father tell you not to try to find
out who killed Wellington, Christopher?
Christopher I don’t know.
Siobhan Christopher, if your father’s told you not to do
something maybe you shouldn’t do it.
Well, we’re meant to be writing stories today, so why don’t
you write about what happened to you last night?
Christopher OK I will.
Siobhan I can help you.
Christopher Will you help me with the spelling and the
grammar and the footnotes?
Ed Christopher, I’m sorry, your mother’s died.
She’s had a heart attack.
It wasn’t expected.
Christopher What kind of heart attack?
Ed I don’t know what kind of heart attack. Now isn’t the
moment, Christopher, to be asking questions like that.
Christopher It was probably an aneurysm.
Ed I’m sorry, Christopher, I’m really sorry.
A form representing Christopher’s street is assembled.
Siobhan That evening I went round to Mrs Shears’ house
and knocked on the door and waited for her to answer it.
Mrs Shears answers her door. She is drinking a cup of tea.
Mrs Shears What are you doing here?
Christopher I wanted to come and tell you that I didn’t kill
Wellington. And also I want to find out who killed him.
Mrs Shears Christopher, I really don’t think I want to see

you right now.
Christopher Do you know who killed Wellington?
Mrs Shears Can you go now, Christopher.
Christopher I wanted to see if the fork was in the shed.
Mrs Shears If you don’t go now I will call the police again.
Christopher Reverend Peters, where is heaven?
Reverend Peters I’m sorry, Christopher?
Christopher In our universe whereabouts is it exactly?
Reverend Peters It’s not in our universe. It’s another kind
of place altogether.
Christopher There isn’t anything outside our universe,
Reverend Peters. There isn’t another kind of place
altogether. Except there might be if you go through a Black
Hole. But a Black Hole is what is called a Singularity which
means it’s impossible to find out what is on the other side
because the gravity of a Black Hole is so big that even
electromagnetic waves like light can’t get out of it, and
electromagnetic waves are how we get information about
things which are far away. And if heaven is on the other side
of a Black Hole then dead people would have to be fired into
space on a rocket to get there and they aren’t or people
would notice.
Reverend Peters looks at him for a while before he responds.
Reverend Peters Well when I say heaven is outside our
universe it’s really just a manner of speaking. I suppose what
it really means is that they are with God.
Christopher But where is God?
Reverend Peters Christopher, we should talk about this on
another day when I have more time.
Part One 17
Siobhan The next day was Saturday and there is not much
to do on a Saturday unless Father takes me out somewhere
on an outing to the boating lake or to the garden centre, but
on this Saturday England were playing Romania at football
which meant that we weren’t going to go on an outing
because Father wanted to watch the match on the television.
So I made a decision. I decided to do some more detection. I
decided to go out on my own.
Mr Thompson Can I help you?
Mr Thompson Who are you?
Christopher I’m Christopher Boone from number 36 and
I know you. You’re Mr Thompson.
Mr Thompson I’m Mr Thompson’s brother.
Mr Thompson Who the hell is Wellington?
Christopher Mrs Shears’ dog. Mrs Shears is from
number 41.
Mr Thompson Someone killed her dog?
Christopher With a fork.
Mr Thompson Jesus Christ.
Christopher A garden fork. Do you know who killed him?
Mr Thompson I haven’t a bloody clue.
Christopher Did you see anything suspicious on Thursday
evening?
Mr Thompson Look son, do you really think you should
be going round asking questions like this?
Christopher Yes, because I want to find out who killed
Wellington and I am writing a book about it.
Mr Thompson Well, I was in Colchester on Thursday so

you’re asking the wrong bloke.
Christopher Thank you.
Number 44 It’s Christopher isn’t it?
Christopher Yes it is. Do you know who killed Wellington?
Number 44 No. No. I don’t. No. I’m sorry.
Christopher Did you see anything suspicious on Thursday
evening, which might be a clue?
Number 44 Like what?
Christopher Like strangers or the sound of
people arguing.
Number 44 I didn’t, Christopher, no.
Christopher Do you know of anyone who might want to
make Mrs Shears sad?
Number 44 Perhaps you should be talking to your father
about this.
Christopher I can’t talk to my father about it because he
told me to stay out of other people’s business.
Number 44 Well maybe he has a point, Christopher.
Christopher So you don’t know anything that might
be a clue?
Number 44 No. You be careful, young man.
Christopher I will be. Thank you for helping me with
my questions.
Do you know who killed Wellington on Thursday night?
Mr Wise Bloody hell. Policemen really are getting younger,
aren’t they?
Mr Wise laughs. Christopher walks away.
Christopher Do you know anything about Wellington
getting killed?
Part One 19
Mrs Alexander I’m afraid you’re going to have to say that

again. I’m a little deaf.
Christopher Do you know anything about Wellington
getting killed?
Mrs Alexander I heard about it yesterday. Dreadful.
Dreadful.
Christopher Do you know who killed him?
Mrs Alexander No, I don’t.
Christopher Somebody must know because the person
who killed Wellington knows that they killed Wellington.
Unless they were a mad person and didn’t know what they
were doing. Or unless they had amnesia.
Mrs Alexander Well, I suppose you’re probably right.
Christopher Thank you for helping me with
my investigation.
Mrs Alexander You’re Christopher, aren’t you?
Christopher Yes. I live at number 36.
Mrs Alexander We haven’t talked before, have we?
Christopher No. I don’t talk to strangers. But I’m doing
detective work.
Mrs Alexander I see you every day, going to school. It’s
very nice of you to come and say hello. Even if it’s only
because you’re doing detective work.
Christopher Thank you.
Mrs Alexander I have a grandson your age.
Christopher My age is fifteen years and three months and
three days.
Mrs Alexander Well, almost your age. You don’t have a
dog, do you?
Christopher No.
Mrs Alexander You’d probably like a dog, wouldn’t you?
Christopher I have a rat.
Mrs Alexander A rat?
Christopher He’s called Toby.
Mrs Alexander Oh.
Christopher Most people don’t like rats because they think
they carry diseases like bubonic plague. But that’s only
because they lived in sewers and stowed away on ships
coming from foreign countries where there were strange
diseases. But rats are very clean.
Mrs Alexander Do you want to come in for tea?
Christopher I don’t go into other people’s houses.
Mrs Alexander Well maybe I could bring some tea out
here. Do you like lemon squash?
Christopher I only like orange squash.
Mrs Alexander Luckily I have some of that as well. And
what about Battenberg?
Christopher I don’t know because I don’t know what
Battenberg is.
Mrs Alexander It’s a kind of cake. It has marzipan icing
round the edge.
Christopher Is it a long cake with a square cross-section
which is divided into equally sized, alternately coloured
squares.
Mrs Alexander Yes, I think you could probably describe it
like that.
Christopher I think I’d like the pink squares but not the
yellow squares because I don’t like yellow. And I don’t know
what marzipan is so I don’t know whether I’ll like that.
Part One 21
Mrs Alexander I’m afraid marzipan is yellow too.

Perhaps I should bring out some biscuits instead. Do you
like biscuits?
Christopher Yes. Some sorts of biscuits.
Mrs Alexander I’ll get a selection.
She goes into her house.
He waits. Then before she gets back.
Siobhan She moved very slowly because she was an old
lady and she was inside the house for more than six minutes
and I began to get nervous because I didn’t know her well
enough to know whether she was telling the truth about
getting orange squash and Battenberg cake. And I thought
she might be ringing the police and then I’d get into
much more serious trouble because of the caution. So I
walked away.
Christopher Why would you kill a dog?
Siobhan I wouldn’t.
Christopher I think you would only kill a dog if a) you
hated the dog or b) if you were mad or c) because you
wanted to make Mrs Shears upset. I don’t know anybody
who hated Wellington so if it was a) it was probably a
stranger. I don’t know any mad people either, so if it was b) it
was also probably a stranger.
Siobhan Right.
Christopher But most murders are committed by
someone who is known to the victim. In fact, you are most
likely to be murdered by a member of your own family on
Christmas Day.
Siobhan Is that a fact?
Christopher Yes actually it is a fact. Wellington was
therefore most likely to have been killed by someone known
to him. I only know one person who didn’t like Mrs Shears
and that is Mr Shears who divorced Mrs Shears and left her
to live somewhere else and who knew Wellington very well
indeed. This means that Mr Shears is my Prime Suspect.
Siobhan Christopher.
Christopher I am going to find out more about Mr Shears.
Mrs Gascoyne Mr Boone, nobody has ever taken an
A-Level in the school before.
Ed He can be the first then.
Mrs Gascoyne I don’t know if we have the facilities in the
school to allow him to do that.
Ed Then get the facilities.
Mrs Gascoyne I can’t treat Christopher differently to any
other student.
Ed Why not?
Mrs Gascoyne Because then everybody would want to be
treated differently.
Ed So?
Mrs Gascoyne It would set a precedent. Christopher can
always do his A-Levels later. When he’s eighteen.
Ed Christopher is getting a crap enough deal already,
don’t you think, without you shitting on him from a great
height as well. Jesus, this is the one thing he’s really good at.
Mrs Gascoyne We should talk about this later. Maybe on
our own.
Ed Are there things which you’re too embarrassed to say to
me in front of Christopher?
Mrs Gascoyne No. It’s not that.
Ed Say them now then.
Part One 23
Mrs Gascoyne If Christopher sits an A-Level then he

would have to have a member of staff looking after him on
his own in a separate room.
Ed I’ll pay for it. They can do it after school. Here. Fifty
quid. Is that enough?
Mrs Gascoyne Mr Boone.
Ed I’m not going to take no for an answer.
Ed turns to Christopher.
Ed Where have you been?
Christopher I have been out.
Ed I have just had a phone call from Mrs Shears. What the
hell were you doing poking round her garden?
Christopher I was doing detective work trying to figure
out who killed Wellington.
Ed How many times do I have to tell you, Christopher? I
told you to keep your nose out of other people’s business.
Christopher I think Mr Shears probably killed Wellington.
Ed (shouts) I will not have that man’s name mentioned in
my house.
Beat.
Everybody on stage pauses to look at Ed and Christopher.
Ed That man is evil.
Christopher Does that mean he might have killed
Wellington?
Ed Jesus wept.
Christopher I know you told me not to get involved in
other people’s business but Mrs Shears is a friend of ours.
Ed Well, she’s not a friend any more.

Ed OK Christopher. I am going to say this for the last and
final time. I will not tell you again. Look at me when I’m
talking to you, for God’s sake. Look at me. You are not to go
asking Mrs Shears who killed that bloody dog. You are not to
go asking anyone who killed that bloody dog. You are not to
go trespassing on other people’s gardens. You are to stop
this ridiculous bloody detective game right now. I am going
to make you promise me, Christopher. And you know what
it means when I make you promise.
Christopher I know.
Ed Promise me that you will give up this ridiculous game
right now, OK?
Christopher I promise.
Siobhan I think I would make a very good astronaut.
Ed Yes mate. You probably would.
Siobhan To be a good astronaut you have to be intelligent
and I’m intelligent. You also have to understand how
machines work and I’m good at understanding how
machines work.
Christopher You also have to be someone who would like
being on their own in a tiny spacecraft thousands and
thousands of miles away from the surface of the earth and
not panic or get claustrophobia or homesick or insane. And I
really like little spaces so long as there is no one else in them
with me.
Ed I noticed.
Siobhan Sometimes when I want to be on my own I get
into the airing cupboard and slide in beside the boiler and
pull the door closed behind me and sit there and think for
hours and it makes me feel very calm.
Part One 25
Christopher So I would have to be an astronaut on my

own or have my own part of the spacecraft that no one else
could come into. And also there are no yellow things or
brown things in a spacecraft so that would be OK, too.
And I would have to talk to other people from Mission
Control, but we would do that through a radio link-up and a
TV monitor so it wouldn’t be like real people who are
strangers but it would be like playing a computer game.
Ed Which you like.
Christopher Also I wouldn’t be homesick at all because I’d
be surrounded by lots of things I like, which are machines
and computers and outer space. And I would be able to look
out of a little window in the spacecraft and know that there
was no one else near me for thousands and thousands –
Ed Christopher.
Christopher What?
Ed Could you please, just, give it a bit of a break,
mate. Please.
The two look at each other.
Siobhan And know that there was no one else near me for
thousands and thousands of miles which is what I sometimes
pretend at night in the summer when I go and lie on the
lawn and look up at the sky and I put my hands round the
sides of my face so that I can’t see the fence and the chimney
and the washing line and I can pretend I’m in space.
And all I could see would be stars. And stars are the places
where the molecules that life is made of were constructed
billions of years ago. For example, all the iron in your blood,
which stops you being anaemic, was made in a star.
And I would like it if I could take Toby with me into space,
and that might be allowed because they sometimes do take
animals into space for experiments, so if I could think of a
good experiment you could do with a rat that didn’t hurt the
rat, I could make them let me take Toby.
But if they didn’t let me I would still go because it would be a
Dream Come True.
Christopher Father said.
Siobhan I see, that’s a pity.
Christopher So the book is finished.
Siobhan Well, Christopher, if your father said he wanted
you to stop then I think he probably has a good reason and I
think you should stop. But you can still be very proud
because what you’ve written so far is just, well it’s great.
Christopher It’s very short.
Siobhan Well, some very good books are very short.
Christopher Like what?
Siobhan Like, like Heart of Darkness.
Christopher Who wrote Heart of Darkness?
Siobhan Joseph Conrad.
Christopher Did you like my diagram of the universe?
Siobhan I did. Very much.
Christopher And the map of the street. Which is accurate.
And the way the chapters are all prime numbers.
Siobhan I noticed that.
Christopher It’s not a proper book.
Siobhan Why not?
Christopher It doesn’t have a proper ending. I never
found out who killed Wellington. So the murderer is still At
Large.
Part One 27
Siobhan Not all murders are solved, Christopher. Not all

murderers are caught.
Christopher I don’t like the idea that he could be living
somewhere nearby and that I might meet him when I go out
for a walk at night.
Siobhan I don’t think that’s going to happen, Christopher.
Christopher It could do. Murder is usually committed by a
person known to the victim.
Father said I was never to mention Mr Shears’ name in our
house again and that he was an evil man and maybe that
meant he was the person who killed Wellington.
Siobhan Christopher, I think you should do what your
father tells you to do.
Mrs Alexander What happened to you the other day?
Christopher Which day?
Mrs Alexander I came out again and you’d gone. I had to
eat all the biscuits myself.
Christopher I went away.
Mrs Alexander I gathered that.
Christopher I thought you might ring the police.
Mrs Alexander Why on earth would I do that?
Christopher Because I was poking my nose into other
people’s business and Father said I shouldn’t investigate
who killed Wellington. And a policeman gave me a caution
and if I get into trouble again it will be a lot worse because
of the caution.
Mrs Alexander You’re very shy aren’t you, Christopher?
Christopher I’m not allowed to talk to you.
Mrs Alexander Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell the
police and I’m not going to tell your father because there’s
nothing wrong with having a chat. Having a chat is just

being friendly, isn’t it?
Christopher I don’t do chatting.
Mrs Alexander Do you like computers?
Christopher Yes. I like computers. I have a computer at
home in my bedroom.
Mrs Alexander I know. I can see you sitting at your
computer in your bedroom sometimes when I look across
the street.
Christopher And I like maths and looking after Toby. And
I also like outer space and I like being on my own.
Mrs Alexander I bet you’re very good at maths, aren’t
you?
Christopher I am. I’m going to do A-Level Maths next
month. And I’m going to get an A grade.
Mrs Alexander Really? A-Level Maths?
Christopher Yes. I don’t tell lies.
Mrs Alexander I apologise. I didn’t mean to suggest that
you were lying. I just wondered if I heard you correctly. I’m
a little deaf sometimes.
Christopher I remember you told me. I’m the first person
to do an A-Level from my school because it’s a special school.
Mrs Alexander Well, I am very impressed. And I hope you
do get an A.
Christopher I will.
Mrs Alexander And the other thing I know about you is
your favourite colour is not yellow.
Christopher No. And it’s not brown either. My favourite
colour is red. And metal colour. Do you know Mr Shears?
Part One 29
Mrs Alexander Not really, no. I mean I knew him well

enough to say hello and talk to a little in the street, but I
didn’t know much about him. I think he worked in a bank.
The National Westminster in town.
Christopher I don’t know where that is.
Mrs Alexander It’s by the train station.
Christopher I don’t know where the train station is either
because I don’t like to go anywhere outside unless I’m on the
school bus to school.
Mrs Alexander Yes, I know how you feel.
Christopher Father said that he is an evil man. Do you
know why he said that? Is Mr Shears an evil man?
Mrs Alexander Why are you asking me about Mr Shears,
Christopher? Is this about Wellington? Perhaps it would be
best not to talk about these things, Christopher.
Mrs Alexander Because. Because maybe your father
is right and you shouldn’t go round asking questions
about this.
Christopher Why?
Mrs Alexander Because obviously he is going to find it
quite upsetting.
Christopher Why is he going to find it quite upsetting?
Mrs Alexander Because . . . because I think you know why
your father doesn’t like Mr Shears very much.
Christopher Did Mr Shears kill Mother?
Mrs Alexander Kill her?
Christopher Yes. Did he kill Mother?
Mrs Alexander No. No. Of course he didn’t kill
your mother.
Christopher But did he give her stress so that she died of a

heart attack?
Mrs Alexander I honestly don’t know what you’re talking
about, Christopher.
Christopher Or did he hurt her so that she had to go
into hospital?
Mrs Alexander Did she have to go into hospital?
Christopher Yes. And it wasn’t very serious at first but she
had a heart attack when she was in hospital.
Mrs Alexander Oh my goodness.
Christopher And she died.
Mrs Alexander Oh my goodness. Oh Christopher, I am so,
so sorry. I never realised.
Christopher Why did you say ‘I think you know why your
father doesn’t like Mr Shears very much’?
Mrs Alexander Oh dear, dear, dear. So you don’t know?
Christopher Don’t know what?
Mrs Alexander Christopher look, I probably shouldn’t be
telling you this. Perhaps we should take a little walk in the
park together. This is not the place to be talking about this
kind of thing.
Ed starts watching their conversation.
Mrs Alexander I am going to say something to you and
you must promise not to tell your father that I told you this.
Christopher Why?
Mrs Alexander I shouldn’t have said what I said. And if I
don’t explain, you’ll carry on wondering what I meant. And
you might ask your father. And I don’t want you to do that
because I don’t want you to upset him. So I’m going to
Part One 31
explain why I said what I said. But before I do that you have
to promise not to tell anyone I said this to you.
Christopher Why?
Mrs Alexander Christopher, please, just trust me.
Christopher I promise.
Mrs Alexander Your mother before she died was very
good friends with Mr Shears.
Christopher I know.
Mrs Alexander No Christopher, I’m not sure that you
do. I mean that they were very good friends. Very, very
good friends.
Christopher Do you mean that they were doing sex?
Mrs Alexander Yes, Christopher. That is what I mean.
I’m sorry, Christopher. I really didn’t mean to say anything
that was going to upset you. But I wanted to explain. Why I
said what I said. You see I thought you knew. That’s why
your father thinks Mr Shears is an evil man. And that will
be why he doesn’t want you going around talking to
people about Mr Shears. Because that will bring back
bad memories.
Christopher Was that why Mr Shears left Mrs Shears,
because he was doing sex with someone else when he was
married to Mrs Shears?
Mrs Alexander Yes. I expect so. I’m sorry, Christopher. I
really am.
Christopher I think I should go now.
Mrs Alexander Are you OK, Christopher?
Christopher I can’t be on my own with you because you
are a stranger.
Mrs Alexander I’m not a stranger, Christopher,
I’m a friend.
Ed And what have you been up to, young man?

Christopher I went to the shop to get some liquorice laces
and a Milky Bar.
Ed You were a long time.
Christopher I talked to Mrs Alexander’s dog outside
the shop.
Rhodri God you do get the third degree, don’t you? So
how are you doing, captain?
Christopher I’m doing very well, thank you, Rhodri.
Rhodri What’s 251 times 864?
Christopher 216, 864. Is that right?
Rhodri I haven’t got a bloody clue.
Ed I’ll stick one of these Gobi Aloo Sag things in the oven
for you, OK?
Christopher OK.
Rhodri With your little bottle of red paint in it, eh
Christopher?
Christopher It’s not red paint, it’s red food colouring
because I don’t eat yellow food. If you put red paint into a
curry it would be extremely dangerous and it would
probably kill you.
Siobhan Have you told your father about this?
Christopher No.
Siobhan Are you going to tell your father about this?
Christopher No.
Ed goes to Siobhan.
He looks at her holding the book.
He reaches his hand out for it.
After a short time she passes it to him.
Part One 33
He finds the place she was at.

He begins reading Christopher’s book.
Siobhan Did it make you sad to find this out?
Christopher Find what out?
Siobhan Did it make you sad to find out that your mother
and Mr Shears had an affair?
Christopher No.
Siobhan Are you telling the truth, Christopher?
Christopher I always tell the truth. I don’t feel sad about it
because Mother is dead and because Mr Shears isn’t around
any more. So I would be feeling sad about something that
isn’t real and doesn’t exist and that would be stupid.
Siobhan What was your mother like, Christopher?
Do you remember much about her?
Christopher I remember the 4th of July 2006. I was nine
years old. It was a Saturday. We were on holiday in Cornwall.
We were on the beach in a place called Polperro. Mother was
wearing a pair of shorts made out of denim and a light blue
bikini top and she was smoking cigarettes called Consulate,
which were mint flavour. And she wasn’t swimming. She was
sunbathing on a towel, which had red and purple stripes,
and she was reading a book by Georgette Heyer called The
Masqueraders. And then she finished sunbathing and went
into the water and she said
Judy Bloody Nora, it’s cold.
Christopher (simultaneously) ‘Bloody Nora, it’s cold.’ And
she said I should come and swim too, but I didn’t like
swimming because I don’t like taking my clothes off. And she
said I should just roll up my trousers and walk into the water
a little way. So I did. And Mother said
Judy Look, it’s lovely.
Christopher And she jumped backwards and disappeared

under the water and I thought a shark had eaten her and I
screamed. And she stood up out of the water again and came
over to where I was standing and held up her right hand
and spread out her fingers like a fan.
Judy Come on, Christopher, touch my hand. Come on
now. Stop screaming. Touch my hand. Listen to me,
Christopher. You can do it. It’s OK, Christopher. It’s OK.
There aren’t any sharks in Cornwall.
Ed ‘When we were inside the park Mrs Alexander stopped
walking and said “I am going to say something to you and
you must promise not to tell your father that I told you
this”.’
Christopher And other times she used to say
Judy If I hadn’t married your father I think I’d be living in
a little farmhouse in the South of France with someone
called Jean. And he’d be, ooh, a local handyman. You know,
doing painting and decorating for people, gardening,
building fences. And we’d have a veranda with figs growing
over it and there would be a field of sunflowers at the bottom
of the garden and a little town on the hill in the distance and
we’d sit outside in the evening and drink red wine and
smoke Gauloise cigarettes and watch the sun go down.
Ed What is this?
Christopher looks at Ed.
Christopher It’s a book I’m writing.
Ed Is this true? Did you speak to Mrs Alexander?
Christopher Yes.
Ed Jesus, Christopher, how stupid are you? What the hell
did I tell you, Christopher?
Christopher Not to mention Mr Shears name in the house.
And not to go asking Mrs Shears, or anyone, about who
Part One 35
killed that bloody dog. And not to go trespassing on other

people’s gardens. And to stop this bloody ridiculous
detective game. Except I haven’t done any of those things. I
just asked Mrs Alexander about Mr Shears because . . .
Ed Don’t give me that bollocks, you little shit. You knew
exactly what you were bloody doing. I’ve read the book,
remember. What else did I say, Christopher?
Ed Come on, you’re the memory man. Not to go round
sticking your nose into other people’s business. And what
do you do? You go around sticking your nose into other
people’s business. You go around raking up the past and
sharing it with every Tom, Dick and Harry you bump into.
What am I going to do with you, Christopher? What am I
going to do with you, Christopher?
Christopher I was just chatting with Mrs Alexander. I
wasn’t doing investigating.
Ed I ask you to do one thing for me, Christopher.
One thing.
Christopher I didn’t want to talk to Mrs. Alexander. It was
Mrs Alexander who . . .
Ed grabs Christopher’s arm.
Christopher screams.
Ed shakes Christopher hard with both hands.
Christopher punches Ed repeatedly in the face. He cuts his mouth.
Ed hits the side of Christopher’s head.
Christopher falls unconscious for a few seconds.
Ed stands above him. He is still holding the book.
Ed I need a drink.
He leaves.
He comes back without the book. He looks at Christopher for a

while before he speaks.
Everybody else on stage watches what he says.
Ed I’m sorry I hit you.
I didn’t mean to.
I love you very much, Christopher. Don’t ever forget that. I
know I lose my rag occasionally. And I know I shouldn’t. But
I only do it because I worry about you, because I don’t want
to see you getting into trouble, because I don’t want you to
get hurt. Do you understand?
Christopher Where’s my book?
Ed Christopher, do you understand that I love you?
Ed holds his right hand up and spreads his fingers out in a fan.
Christopher does the same with his left hand.
They make their fingers and thumbs touch each other.
Christopher Is it in the dustbin at the front of the house?
Siobhan Christopher, why have you got a bruise on the
side of your face?
Christopher Father was angry. He grabbed me so I hit him
and then we had a fight.
Siobhan Did he hit you?
Christopher I don’t know. I got very cross. It made my
memory go strange.
Siobhan Did he hit you because he was angry?
Christopher He didn’t hit me. He grabbed me. But he
was angry.
Siobhan Did he grab you hard?
Christopher Yes.
Siobhan Christopher, are you frightened of going home?
Part One 37
Christopher No. Because I need to find my book.

Siobhan Do you want to talk about it any more?
Christopher No. Because grabbing is OK if it’s on your
arm or your shoulder when you are angry, but you can’t
grab someone’s hair or their face. But hitting is not allowed,
except if you are already in a fight with someone then it is
not so bad.
Siobhan When I got home from school Father was still at
work so I went outside and looked inside the dustbin.
But the book wasn’t there.
I wondered if Father had put it into his van and driven to
the tip and put it into one of the big bins there but I did not
want that to be true because then I would never see it again.
One other possibility was that Father had hidden my book
somewhere in the house. So I decided to do some detecting
and see if I could find it.
I started by looking in the kitchen.
Then I detected in the utility room.
Then I detected in the dining room.
Then I detected in the living room where I found the
missing wheel from my Airfix Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6
model under the sofa.
Then I went upstairs but I didn’t do any detecting in my
own room because I reasoned that Father wouldn’t hide
something from me in my own room unless he was being
very clever and doing what is called a Double Bluff like in a
real murder mystery novel, so I decided to look in my own
room only if I couldn’t find the book anywhere else.
I detected in the bathroom, but the only place to look was in
the airing cupboard and there was nothing in there.
Which meant the only room left to detect in was Father’s
bedroom.
I started by looking under the bed.

There were seven shoes and a comb with lots of hair in it and
a piece of copper pipe and a chocolate biscuit and a
magazine called Fiesta and a dead bee and a Homer Simpson
pattern tie and a wooden spoon, but not my book. Then I
looked in the drawers on either side of the dressing table.
But these only contained aspirin and nail clippers and
batteries and dental floss and a tampon and tissues and a
spare false tooth but my book wasn’t there either.
Then I looked in his clothes cupboard. In the bottom of the
cupboard was a large plastic toolbox which was full of tools
for doing-it-yourself but I could see these without opening
the box because it was made of transparent grey plastic.
Then I saw that there was another box underneath the
toolbox.
So I lifted the toolbox out of the cupboard.
The other box was an old cardboard box that is called a shirt
box because people used to buy shirts in them.
Christopher finds these things including, finally the shirt box.
Siobhan And when I opened the shirt box I saw my book
was inside it.
Christopher finds his book.
Siobhan Then I heard his van pulling up outside the
house and I knew that I had to think fast and be clever.
I heard Father shutting the door of the van.
And that is when I saw the envelope.
It was an envelope addressed to me and it was lying under
my book in the shirt box with some other envelopes. I
picked it up.
Christopher finds the envelope.
Siobhan It had never been opened.
It said
Part One 39
Judy Christopher Boone, 36 Randolph Street,

Swindon, Wiltshire.
Siobhan Then I noticed there were lots of envelopes and
they were all addressed to me. And this was interesting
and confusing.
And then I noticed how the words ‘Christopher’ and
‘Swindon’ were written. They were written like this.
Judy Christopher. Swindon.
Siobhan I only know three people who do little circles
instead of dots over the letter i. And one of them is Siobhan.
And one of them was Mr Loxley who used to teach at the
school. And one of them was Mother.
Ed Christopher?
Christopher Hello.
Ed So what have you been up to, young man?
Christopher Today we did Life Skills with Siobhan. Which
was Using Money and Public Transport. And I had tomato
soup for lunch and three apples. And I practised some
maths in the afternoon and we went for a walk in the park
with Mrs Peters and collected leaves for making collages.
Ed Excellent, excellent. What do you fancy for chow
tonight?
Christopher Baked beans and broccoli.
Ed I think that can be very easily arranged.
I’m just going to put those shelves up in the living room if
that’s all right with you. I’ll make a bit of a racket, I’m afraid,
so if you want to watch television we’re going to have to shift
it upstairs.
Christopher I’ll go and be on my own in my room.
Ed Good man.
Siobhan I went up to my room. And when I was in the

room I shut the door and took out the envelope. I opened
the envelope. Inside there was a letter. And this was what
was written in the letter.
Judy 451c Chapter Road, Willesden, London NW2 5NG.
0208 887 8907. Dear Christopher. I’m sorry it’s been such a
very long time since I wrote my last letter to you. I’ve been
very busy. I’ve got a new job working as a secretary for a
factory that makes things out of steel. You’d like it a lot. The
factory is full of huge machines that make the steel and cut it
and bend it into whatever shapes they need. Also we’ve
moved into a new flat at last as you can see from the address.
It’s not as nice as the old one and I don’t like Willesden very
much, but it’s easier for Roger to get to work and he’s
bought it (he only rented the other one) so we can get our
own furniture and paint the walls the colour we want to. You
haven’t written to me yet, so I know that you are probably
still angry with me. I’m sorry, Christopher. But I still love
you. I hope you don’t stay angry with me for ever. And I’d
love it if you were able to write me a letter (but remember to
send it to the new address!).
I think about you all the time.
Lots of love,
Your Mum.
Siobhan I was really confused. Mother had never worked
as a secretary for a firm that made things out of steel. And
Mother had never lived in London. And Mother had never
written a letter to me before.
There was no date on the letter so I couldn’t work out when
Mother had written the letter and then I looked at the front
of the envelope and I saw there was a postmark and there
was a date on the postmark which meant that the letter was
posted eighteen months after Mother had died.
Ed What are you doing?
Part One 41
Christopher I’m reading a letter.

Ed I’ve finished the drilling. That David Attenborough
nature programme’s on telly if you’re interested.
Christopher OK.
Ed leaves.
Christopher watches him go. He looks at the letter. He folds it and
puts it back in its envelope and hides it in the box he’s sitting on.
Siobhan When I started writing my book there was only
one mystery to solve. Now there were two. Perhaps the letter
was in the wrong envelope and it had been written before
Mother had died. Perhaps it wasn’t a letter from Mother.
Perhaps it was a letter to another person called Christopher
from that Christopher’s mother. Perhaps someone else had
written the letter and pretended to be Mother.
I decided that I would not think about it any more that night
because I didn’t have enough information and could easily
LEAP TO THE WRONG CONCLUSIONS.
He lies down. He curls himself up into a ball.
Night falls. Morning rises.
The next day Christopher comes home from school.
Ed You’re soaking.
Christopher Yes.
Ed Give me your coat, I’ll hang it up.
How was school?
Christopher It was good, thank you.
Joseph Fleming took his trousers off and went to the toilet
all over the floor of the changing room and started to eat it,
but Mr Davis stopped him.
Ed Good old Mr Davis eh?
Christopher Joseph eats everything.

Ed Does he?
Christopher He once ate one of the little blocks of blue
disinfectant, which hang inside the toilets. And he once ate a
£50 note from his mother’s wallet. And he eats string and
rubber bands and tissues and writing paper and paints and
plastic forks. Also he bangs his chin and screams a lot.
Ed I know how he feels. Christopher –
Christopher Tyrone said that there was a horse and a pig
in the poo so I said he was being stupid, but Siobhan said he
wasn’t. They were small plastic animals from the library that
the staff use to make people tell stories. And Joseph had
eaten them.
Ed Christopher, I’ve got to go out.
Christopher Why?
Ed I’ve just had a call. There’s a lady. Her cellar has
flooded. I’ve got to go out and fix it.
Christopher Is it an emergency?
Ed Yes mate.
Christopher Why can’t Rhodri go?
Ed He’s already out on a call.
Christopher So there are two emergencies.
Ed That’s right, mate.
Christopher It is raining very heavily.
Ed It is.
Christopher The rain looks like white sparks.
Ed Christopher, if I go out will you be OK?
Christopher Yes I will because there’s no one around
because everybody’s staying indoors.
Ed Good. Good. Good. Good lad.
Part One 43
Christopher I like looking at the rain.

Ed Terrific.
Christopher I like it because it makes me think how all the
water in the world is connected.
Ed Does it?
Christopher This water, this rain has evaporated actually
from somewhere like maybe the Gulf of Mexico maybe or
Baffin Bay and now it’s falling in front of the house and it
will drain away into the gutter and flow to a sewage station
and then it will be cleaned and then it will go into a river and
then it will go back into the ocean again.
Ed I’ll have my mobile with me.
Christopher Yes.
Ed So you can call me if there’s a problem.
Christopher Yes.
Ed Behave yourself, Christopher yeah?
Christopher Yes.
Ed remains on stage.
Siobhan So I went into his bedroom and opened up the
cupboard and lifted the toolbox off the top of the shirt box
and opened the shirt box. I counted out the letters. There
were forty-three of them. They were all addressed to me in
the same handwriting. I took one and opened it. Inside was
this letter.
As Judy reads so Christopher begins to assemble his train set. His
building becomes frantic. At times almost balletic.
Judy 451c Chapter Road, London NW2 5NG. 0208 887
8907. I was looking through some old photos last night,
which made me sad. Then I found a photo of you playing
with the train set we bought for you a couple of Christmases
ago. And that made me happy because it was one of the
really good times we had together. Do you remember how

you played with it all day and you refused to go to bed at
night because you were still playing with it? We told you
about train timetables and you made a train timetable and
you had a clock and you made the train run on time. And
there was a little wooden station, too, and we showed you
how people who wanted to go on the train went to the
station and bought a ticket and then got on a train? And
then we got out a map and we showed you the little lines
which were the train lines connecting all the stations. And
you played with it for weeks and weeks and weeks and we
bought you more trains and you knew where they were all
going. I liked remembering that a lot.
Siobhan Then I opened another envelope. This was the
letter that was inside.
Christopher continues to build a train set. It should be as big as he
can possibly make it. He makes it with attention and detail as the
letter continues.
Judy Dear Christopher. I said that I wanted to explain to
you why I went away when I had the time to do it properly.
Now I have lots of time. So I’m sitting on the sofa here with
this letter and the radio on and I’m going to try and explain.
I was not a very good mother, Christopher. Maybe if things
had been different, maybe if you’d been different, I might
have been better at it. But that’s just the way things
turned out.
I’m not like your father. Your father is a much more patient
person. He just gets on with things and if things upset him
he doesn’t let it show.
But that’s not the way I am and there’s nothing I can do to
change it.
Do you remember once when we were shopping in town
together? And we went into Bentall’s and it was really
crowded and we had to get a Christmas present for
Grandma? And you were frightened because of all the
Part One 45
people in the shop. It was the middle of Christmas shopping

when everyone was in town. And I was talking to Mr Land
who works on the kitchen floor and went to school with me.
And you crouched down on the floor and put your hands
over your ears and you were in the way of everyone so I got
cross because I don’t like shopping at Christmas either, and I
told you to behave and I tried to pick you up and move you.
But you shouted and you knocked those mixers off the shelf
and there was a big crash. And everyone turned round to see
what was going on and Mr Land was really nice about it but
there were boxes and bits of string and bits of broken bowl
on the floor and everyone was staring and I saw that you
had wet yourself and I was so cross and I wanted to take you
out of the shop but you wouldn’t let me touch you and you
just lay on the floor and screamed and banged your hands
and feet on the floor and the manager came and asked me
what the problem was and I was at the end of my tether and
I had to pay for two broken mixers and we just had to wait
until you stopped screaming. And then I had to walk you all
the way home, which took hours because I knew you
wouldn’t go on the bus again.
And I remember that night I just cried and cried and cried
and your father was really nice about it at first and he made
you supper and put you to bed and he said these things
happen and it would be OK. But I said I couldn’t take it any
more and eventually he got really cross and he told me I was
being stupid and said I should pull myself together and I hit
him, which was wrong, but I was so upset.
We had a lot of arguments like that.
Because I often thought I couldn’t take it any more. And
your father is really patient, but I’m not. I get cross, even
though I don’t mean to. And by the end we stopped talking
to each other very much because we knew it would always
end up in an argument. And I felt really lonely.
Siobhan And that was when I started spending lots of time
with Roger.
Judy And that was when I started spending lots of time

with Roger.
Christopher moves to the middle of the track. He crouches down.
He rolls himself into a ball. He starts hitting his hands and his feet
and his head against the floor as the letter continues.
Judy And I know you might not understand any of this,
but I wanted to try to explain so that you knew.
Siobhan We had a lot in common. And then we realised
that we were in love with one ano –
Judy I said that I couldn’t leave you and he was sad
about that but he understood that you were really important
to me.
Siobhan And you started to shout and I got cross and I
threw the food across the room. Which I know I shouldn’t
have done.
Judy You grabbed the chopping board and you threw it
and it hit my foot and broke my toes.
Siobhan And afterwards at home your father and I had a
huge argument.
Judy And I couldn’t walk properly for a month, do you
remember, and your father had to look after you.
Siobhan And I remember looking at the two of you and
seeing you together and thinking how you were really
different with him. Much calmer.
Judy And it made me so sad because it was like you didn’t
need me at all.
Siobhan And I think then I realised you and your father
were probably better off if I wasn’t living in the house.
Judy And Roger asked me if I wanted to come with him.
Siobhan And it broke my heart but eventually I decided it
would be better for all of us if I went.
Part One 47
Judy And so I said yes.

Siobhan And I meant to say goodbye.
Judy But when I rang your father he said I couldn’t –
He was really angry. He said I couldn’t –
Siobhan He said I couldn’t talk to you.
Judy And I didn’t know what to do.
Siobhan He said I was being selfish and that I was never to
set foot inside the house again.
Judy And so I haven’t.
Siobhan I wonder if you can understand any of this. I
know it will be difficult for you.
Judy I thought what I was doing was the best for all of us. I
hope it is.
Siobhan Christopher, I never meant to hurt you.
Judy I used to have dreams that everything would get
better. Do you remember you used to say that you wanted to
be an astronaut? Well I used to have dreams where you were
an astronaut and you were on television and I thought that’s
my son. I wonder what it is that you want to be now. Has it
changed? Are you still doing maths? I hope you are.
Have you got the present I sent you? Have you solved it yet?
Roger and I saw it in a shop in Camden market and I know
you’ve always liked puzzles.
Siobhan Roger tried to get the two pieces apart before we
wrapped it up and he couldn’t do it.
He said that if you managed it you were a genius.
Judy Loads and loads of love, Mother.
Christopher’s thrashing has exhausted him.
He has been sick. He lies still for a while, wrapped in a ball.
The box of his mother’s letters is next to him.
Ed Christopher? Christopher?
Christopher doesn’t respond.
Ed Christopher, what the hell are you doing? These are.
Oh shit. Oh Christ.
Christopher doesn’t move or respond.
Ed stops himself from crying.
Ed It was an accident.
Ed I don’t know what to say . . . I was in such a mess . . . I
said she was in hospital. Because I didn’t know how to
explain, it was so complicated. And once I’d said that . . . I
couldn’t change it. It just . . . It got out of control.
After a time Ed approaches him.
Very, very gently he touches his shoulder. Christopher doesn’t
respond.
Ed Christopher, we have to get you cleaned up, OK?
Let’s sit you up and get your clothes off and get you into
bed, OK? I’m going to have to touch you, but it’s going to be
all right.
Ed lifts Christopher on to the side of the bed. Christopher
doesn’t resist or fight at all.
Ed takes Christopher’s jumper and shirt off.
Siobhan has entered. She has a tube of Smarties.
Siobhan Christopher, what do you think is in here?
Christopher Smarties.
She opens it.
Siobhan It’s not Smarties. It’s a pencil. If your Dad came in
now, and we asked him what was inside the Smarties tube,
what do you think he would say?
Part One 49
Christopher A pencil.
Ed Have you had anything to eat this evening?
Can I get you anything to eat, Christopher?
OK. Look. I’m going to go and put your clothes into the
washing machine and then I’ll come back, OK?
Ed leaves. Christopher sits alone and counts.
Christopher 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048,
4096, 8192, 16384, 32768, 65536, 131072, 262144, 524288,
1048576, 2097152, 4194304, 8388608, 16777216,
33554432.
Ed How are you feeling? Can I get you anything?
Look maybe I shouldn’t say this, but . . . I want you to know
that you can trust me. Life is difficult, you know. It’s bloody
hard telling the truth all the time. But I want you to know
that I’m trying. And perhaps this is not a very good time to
say this, and I know you’re not going to like it, but . . . You
have to know that I am going to tell you the truth from now
on. About everything. Because . . . if you don’t tell the truth
now, then later on it hurts even more. So . . . I killed
Wellington, Christopher. Just . . . let me explain. When your
mum left . . . Eileen . . . Mrs Shears . . . she was very good to
me. She helped me through a very difficult time. And I’m
not sure I would have made it without her. Well, you know
how she was round here most days. Popping over to see if we
were OK. If we needed anything . . . I thought . . . Well . . .
Shit, Christopher, I’m trying to keep this simple . . . I
thought she might carry on coming over . . . I thought . . .
and maybe I was being stupid . . . I thought she might . . .
eventually . . . want to move in here. Or that we might move
into her house. We . . . we got on really, really well. I thought
we were friends. And I guess I thought wrong. We argued,
Christopher, and . . . She said some things I’m not going to
say to you because they’re not nice, but they hurt, but . . . I
think she cared more for that bloody dog than for us. And
maybe that’s not so stupid, looking back. Maybe it’s easier

living on your own looking after some stupid mutt than
sharing your life with other actual human beings. I mean,
shit, buddy we’re not exactly low maintenance, are we?
Anyway, we had this row. Well, quite a few rows to be honest.
But after this particularly nasty little blow-out, she chucked
me out of the house. And you know what that bloody dog
was like. Nice as pie one moment, roll over, tickle its
stomach. Sink its teeth into your leg the next. Anyway, we’re
yelling at each other and it’s in the garden. So when she
slams the door behind me the bugger’s waiting for me. And
. . . I know, I know. Maybe if I’d just given it a kick it would
probably have backed off. But, shit Christopher, when the
red mist comes down. . . Christ, you know what I’m talking
about. I mean we’re not that different me and you. And it
was like everything I’d been bottling up for two years just . . .
I promise you, I never meant for it to turn out like this.
Ed holds his right hand up for Christopher to touch.
He pushes Ed backwards.
Ed stares at Christopher.
Ed OK. Look. Christopher. I’m sorry. Let’s leave it for
tonight, OK? I’m going to go downstairs and you get some
sleep and we’ll talk in the morning. It’s going to be all right.
Honestly. Trust me.
Ed leaves.
Christopher fields himself into a ball. He groans.
He starts counting again.
Christopher 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048,
4096, 8192, 16384, 32768, 32768, 32768, 32768, 32 –
Siobhan Father had murdered Wellington. That meant he
could murder me.
Part One 51
I had to get out of the house.

I made a decision. I did this by thinking of all the things I
could do and deciding whether they were the right decision
or not.
Ed Stay home.
Siobhan I decided I couldn’t stay home any more.
Ed Christopher, please.
Christopher No, because I can’t live in the house with you
any more because it is dangerous.
(To Siobhan.) I can’t go and live with you because you can’t
look after me when school’s closed.
Siobhan I could try and –
Christopher No, because you’re a teacher.
Siobhan Yes.
Christopher Not a friend or a member of my family.
Uncle Terry You could go and live with your Uncle Terry.
Christopher You live in Sunderland. I don’t know how to
get to Sunderland.
Uncle Terry Get a train. Get the train from Swindon.
Christopher And you smoke cigarettes. And you stroke
my hair.
You’re not a friend either.
Mrs Alexander I think I am a friend.
Christopher No. And you’re not a member of my family.
Mrs Alexander I do have a dog.
Christopher Yes but I can’t stay overnight in your house or

use your toilet because you’ve used it and you’re a stranger.
Mrs Alexander I’m not really a stranger, Christopher.
Christopher Yes.
Judy 451c Chapter Road, London NW2 5NG.
451c Chapter Road, London NW2 5NG.
451c Chapter Road, London NW2 5NG.
Christopher looks at Judy.
Judy 451c Chapter Road.
Christopher London NW2 5NG.
Light falls.
Part Two
The company is on stage.
Siobhan Christopher, I want to ask you something. Mrs
Gascoyne has asked if we would like to do a play this year.
She asked me to ask everybody if we’d like to make some
kind of performance for the school. Everybody could join in
and play a part in it.
Mrs Gascoyne I think it would be a good thing for
everybody to join in and play a part in.
Siobhan I was wondering if you’d like to make a play out of
your book.
Christopher No.
Siobhan I think it could be really good fun, Christopher.
Mrs Gascoyne I think it could be really good fun.
Christopher No. It’s a book and it’s for me and not
everybody, just for me
Siobhan I know that, Christopher, but I think a lot of
people would be interested in what would happen if people
took your book and started acting bits out of it.
Christopher No. I don’t like acting because it is pretending
that something is real when it is not really real at all so it is
like a kind of lie.
Siobhan But people like stories, Christopher. Some people
find things which are kind of true in things which are made
up. You like your Sherlock Holmes stories and you know
Sherlock Holmes isn’t a real person, don’t you?
I would help you if you were worried about that.
Christopher No.
Reverend Peters I think I’d rather like to take the part
of a policeman.
Christopher You’re too old to be a policeman.

Ed (shouting) Christopher. Christopher.
Everybody stops what they’re doing and watches Ed.
Christopher hides.
Nobody gives Ed a clue as to where Christopher is.
After a while he gives up.
Then Christopher comes out. He is holding Toby in his cage.
Mrs Alexander Christopher, what on earth has happened
to you?
Christopher Can you look after Toby for me?
Mrs Alexander Who’s Toby?
Christopher Toby’s my pet rat.
Mrs Alexander Oh . . . Oh yes. I remember now. You
told me.
Christopher He eats special pellets and you can buy them
from a pet shop. And he needs new water in his bottle every
day, too.
Mrs Alexander Why do you need somebody to look after
Toby, Christopher?
Christopher I’m going to London.
Mrs Alexander How long are you going for?
Christopher Until I go to university.
Mrs Alexander Right. Are you and your father
moving house?
Christopher No.
Mrs Alexander So, why are you going to London?
Christopher I’m going to live with Mother.
Mrs Alexander I thought you told me your mother
was dead.
Part Two 55
Christopher I thought she was dead but she was still alive.
And Father lied to me. And also he killed Wellington and so
that means that he could kill me.
Mrs Alexander Is your mother here?
Christopher No. Mother is in London. She lives at 451c
Chapter Road, London NW2 5NG.
Mrs Alexander So you’re going to London on your own?
Christopher I think I am going to do that, yes.
Mrs Alexander Look, Christopher, why don’t you come
inside and sit down and we can talk about this.
Christopher No. I can’t come inside. Will you look after
Toby for me?
Mrs Alexander I really don’t think that would be a good
idea, Christopher. Where’s your father at the moment,
Christopher?
Mrs Alexander Well perhaps we should try and give him a
ring and see if we can get in touch with him. I’m sure he’s
worried about you. And I’m sure that there’s been a
dreadful misunderstanding.
Christopher leaves.
He goes back to his house.
He sees his dad’s wallet on the floor. He stares at it, frozen in his
tracks.
He approaches the wallet.
He opens the wallet.
He takes out the card from his dad’s wallet. He puts it in his pocket.
Christopher 3558. 3558. 3558. 3558. 3558.
He leaves the house.
The company dismantle the house.

They make Swindon town centre.
Christopher Where can I buy a map?
Lady in Street Pardon?
Christopher Where can I buy a map?
Lady in Street A map of where?
Christopher A map of here.
Lady in Street I don’t know, where do you want to get to?
Christopher I’m going to the train station.
Lady in Street You don’t need a map to get to the
train station.
Christopher I do because I don’t know where the train
station is.
Lady in Street You can see it from here.
Christopher No I can’t. And also I need to know where
there is a cash machine.
Lady in Street There. That building. Says ‘Signal Point’ on
the top. There’s a British Rail sign on the other end. The
station’s at the bottom of that.
Christopher Do you mean the stripy building with the
horizontal windows that you can see poking out over
these houses?
Lady in Street That’s the one.
Christopher How do I get to that building?
Lady in Street Gordon Bennett.
Christopher I knew that the train station was somewhere

near. And if something is nearby you can find it by moving in
a spiral, walking clockwise and taking every right turn until
you come back to a road you’ve already walked on, then
taking the next left, then taking every right turn and so on.
Part Two 57
And that was how I found the station.

Voice One Customers seeking access to the car park please
use assistance phone opposite, right of the ticket office.
Voice Two Warning CCTV in operation.
Voice Three Great Western.
Voice Five Cold beers and lagers.
Voice Two CAUTION WET FLOOR.
Voice Four Your 50p will keep a premature baby alive for
1.8 seconds.
Voice Three Transforming travel.
Voice Five Refreshingly Different.
Voice One It’s Delicious, it’s creamy and it’s only £1.30.
Hot Choc Deluxe.
Voice Two 0870 777 7676.
Voice Four The Lemon Tree.
Voice One No Smoking.
Voice Two Fine teas.
Voice Five Automatic Fire Door Keep Clear.
Voice Two Air Conditioned.
Voice Three Reserved Parking.
Voice Four Open As Usual This Way.
Voice Three No Smoking.
Voice Five No alcohol.
Voice Three Dogs must be carried.
Voice One RVP.
Voice Three Dogs must be carried.
Voice One LFB.

Voice Four A Perfect Blend.
Voice Two Royal Mail.
Voice Four Mon–Fri 7 am – 7 pm.
Voice Three Dogs must be carried at all times.
Voice Five Special Lunch Offers.
Voice One Parking Subject to the Railway Bylaws Section
219 of the Transport Act 2000.
Voice Three Please stand on the right.
Voice Four Superb Coffee.
Voice Two Step-free Access.
Voice Five Take Extra Care with Children.
Voice Three Cash Dispensers.
Voice Three Dogs must be carried at all times.
Station Policeman Are you all right, young man?
Christopher You’re too old.
Christopher You’re too old to play a policeman.
Christopher No.
Station Policeman You’re looking a bit worse for wear. The
lady at the café says that when she tried talking to you, you
were in a complete trance. What’s your name?
Christopher Christopher Boone.
Part Two 59
Station Policeman Where do you live?

Christopher 36 Randolph Street.
Station Policeman What are you doing here?
Christopher I needed to sit down and be quiet and think.
Station Policeman OK let’s keep it simple. What are you
doing at the railway station?
Christopher I’m going to see Mother.
Station Policeman Mother?
Christopher Yes, Mother.
Station Policeman When’s your train?
Christopher I don’t know. She lives in London. I don’t
know when there’s a train to London.
Station Policeman So, you don’t live with your mother?
Christopher No. But I’m going to.
Station Policeman So where does your mother live?
Christopher In London.
Station Policeman Yes, but where in London?
Christopher 451c Chapter Road, London NW2 5NG.
Station Policeman Jesus. What is that?
Christopher That’s my pet rat, Toby.
Station Policeman A pet rat?
Christopher Yes, a pet rat. He’s very clean and he hasn’t
got bubonic plague.
Station Policeman Well, that’s reassuring.
Christopher Yes.
Station Policeman Have you got a ticket?
Christopher No.
Station Policeman So how precisely were you going to get
to London then?
Christopher I have a cashpoint card.
Station Policeman Is this your card?
Christopher No, it’s Father’s.
Station Policeman Father’s.
Christopher Yes, Father’s.
Station Policeman OK.
Christopher He told me the number. It’s 3558.
Station Policeman Why don’t you and I take a stroll to the
cash machine, eh?
Christopher You mustn’t touch me.
Station Policeman Why would I want to touch you?
Station Policeman Well, neither do I.
Christopher Because I got a caution for hitting a
policeman but I didn’t mean to hurt him and if I do it again
I’ll get into even bigger trouble.
Voice One Please insert your card.
Station Policeman You’re serious, aren’t you?
Christopher Yes.
Voice One Enter your personal number.
Station Policeman You lead the way.
Christopher Where?
Station Policeman Back by the ticket office.
Voice One Please enter amount. Ten pounds. Twenty
pounds. Fifty pounds. One hundred pounds.
Part Two 61
Christopher How much does it cost to get a ticket to

London?
Station Policeman About twenty quid.
Voice One Please wait. Your transaction is being processed.
Christopher Is that pounds?
Station Policeman Christ alive. Yep. It’s twenty pounds.
Voice One Please take your card and wait for your cash.
Beat.
Station Policeman Well I guess I shouldn’t keep you
chatting any longer.
Christopher Where do I get a ticket for the train from?
Station Policeman You are a prize specimen, aren’t you?
Christopher Where do I get a ticket for the train from?
Station Policeman In there. Now are you sure you know
what you’re doing?
Christopher Yes. I’m going to London to live with my
mother.
Station Policeman Has your mother got a telephone
number?
Christopher Yes.
Station Policeman And can you tell me what it is?
Christopher Yes. It’s 020 887 8907.
Station Policeman And you’ll ring her if you get into any
trouble, OK?
Christopher I want to go to London.
Man behind Counter If you don’t mind.
Christopher I want to go to London.
Man behind Counter Single or return?
Christopher What does ‘single or return’ mean?

Man behind Counter Do you want to go one way or do you
want to come back?
Christopher I want to stay there when I get there.
Man behind Counter For how long?
Christopher Until I go to university.
Man behind Counter Single then. That’ll be £17.
Christopher When is the train to London?
Man behind Counter Platform One, five minutes.
Christopher Where is Platform One?
Man behind Counter Through the underpass and up the
stairs. You’ll see the signs.
Siobhan Underpass means tunnel, Christopher.
Somebody bumps into Christopher. He barks at them like a dog.
Siobhan In your head imagine a big red line across the
floor. It starts at your feet and goes through the tunnel. And
walk along the line. And count the rhythm in your head
because that helps, doesn’t it? Like when you’re doing music
or when you’re doing drumming. Left, right, left, right, left,
right.
Christopher Left, right, left, right, left, right.
Siobhan See the sign saying Platform One. See the glass
door. Go through the glass door, Christopher.
Somebody bumps into Christopher again. Again he barks like
a dog.
Whole Company Watch where the hell you’re going.
Siobhan Watch that man. There. See where he presses the
button. And the doors slide open.
You do that.
Part Two 63
Press the button.

Step through the doors.
Christopher Is this the train to London?
Station Policeman Christopher. Caught you. Just in time.
We’ve got your father at the police station. He’s looking
for you.
Christopher I know.
Station Policeman So why are you going to London?
Christopher Because I’m going to live with Mother.
Station Policeman Well, I think your father might have
something to say about that.
Christopher tries to run. The Policeman grabs him.
Christopher screams. The Policeman lets go.
Station Policeman OK, let’s not get over-excited here. I’m
going to take you back to the police station and you and me
and your dad can sit down and have a little chat about who’s
going where.
Christopher Have you arrested Father?
Station Policeman Arrested him? What for?
Christopher He killed a dog. With a garden fork. The dog
was called Wellington.
Station Policeman Well, we can talk about that as well.
Right now, young man, I think you’ve done enough
adventuring for one day.
The Policeman reaches out to touch him. He screams.
Now listen, you little monkey. You can either do what I say,
or I’m going to have to make . . .
The train begins to move.
Bollocks.
Christopher Why are you swearing? Have we started? Has

the train started?
Station Policeman Don’t move.
Rob? Yeah it’s Nigel. I’m stuck here on the bloody train.
Yeah. Don’t even. . . Look. It stops at Didcot Parkway. So if
you can get someone to meet me with a car. . . Cheers. Tell
his old man we’ve got him but it’s going to take a while, OK?
Great. Let’s get ourselves a seat. Park yourself. You are a
bloody handful you are. Jeez.
The company rebuild and extend and develop the interior of the
train. Including the luggage rack.
Christopher I see everything. Most other people are lazy.
They never look at everything. They do what is called
glancing, which is the same word for bumping off something
and carrying on in almost the same direction. And the
information in their head is really simple. For example, if
they are on a train looking out of a window at the
countryside it might be
Voice One 1. I am sitting on a train looking out at a field
that is full of grass.
Voice Two 2. There are some cows in the field.
Voice Three 3. It is sunny with a few clouds.
Voice Four 4. There are some flowers in the grass.
Voice Five 5. There is a village in the distance.
Voice One 6. There is a fence at the edge of the field and it
has a gate in.
Christopher And then they would stop noticing anything
because they would be thinking something else like
Voice Two Oh it is very beautiful here.
Christopher Or
Part Two 65
Voice One I’m worried that I might have left the gas
cooker on.
Christopher Or
Voice Four I wonder if Julie has given birth yet.
Christopher But if I am standing looking out of the
window of a train on to the countryside I notice everything.
Like
As Christopher talks he raps out a nervous rhythm with his hand.
1. There are nineteen cows in the field. Fifteen of which are
black and white and four of which are brown and white.
2. There is a village in the distance, which has thirty-one
visible houses and a church with a square tower and not a
spire.
3. There are ridges in the field which means that in
medieval times it was called a ridge and furrow field and
people who lived in the village would have a ridge each
to do farming on.
4. There is an old plastic bag from Asda in the hedge and a
squashed Coca Cola can with a snail on, and a long piece of
orange string.
5. The north-east corner of the field is highest and the
south-west corner is lowest.
6. I can see three different types of grass and two colours of
flowers in the grass.
7. The cows are mostly facing uphill,
And there were thirty-one more things in this list of things.
Station Policeman Oh Christ, you’ve wet yourself. For
God’s sake, go to the bloody toilet, will you?
Christopher But I’m on a train.
Station Policeman They do have toilets on trains, you

know.
Christopher Where is the toilet on the train?
Station Policeman Through those doors there. But I’ll be
keeping an eye on you, you understand?
Christopher No.
Station Policeman Just go to the bloody toilet.
Christopher stands.
He walks down the corridor of the train. Shaking, closing his eyes,
he pisses.
He tries to wash his hand but can’t because there is no running
water.
He spits on his hands to wash them. He rubs them dry with toilet
paper.
Shaking he leaves the toilet.
He goes to the luggage rack.
He moves two bags.
He climbs on to the shelf.
He hides himself behind the suitcases.
He starts listing prime numbers to himself.
As he continues to count the Policeman notices he’s gone. The
counting continues under the following exchanges.
Christopher 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43,
47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, 97, 101, 103, 107, 109,
113, 127, 131, 137, 139, 149, 151, 157, 163, 167, 173, 179,
181, 191, 193, 197, 199, 211, 223, 227, 229, 233, 239, 241,
251, 257, 263, 269, 271, 277, 281.
Station Policeman Christopher? Christopher?
Bloody hell.
Part Two 67
He leaves. Christopher stays where he is. Still counting. A woman

approaches him to take her bag.
Woman on Train You scared the living daylights out of me.
I think someone’s out there on the platform looking for you.
Christopher I know.
Woman on Train Well. It’s your look-out.
She takes her bag. She leaves. Christopher stays hidden behind the
smaller pile of bags. Still counting. A Posh Man approaches. He
takes his bag.
Posh Man Have you touched my bag?
Christopher Yes.
He leaves. Christopher stays hidden behind the still smaller pile of
bags. Still counting. Two Drunk Men approach to take their bags.
Drunk One Come and look at this, Barry. They’ve got like,
a train elf.
Drunk Two Well, we have both been drinking.
Drunk One Perhaps we should feed him some nuts.
Drunk Two You’re the one who’s bloody nuts.
Drunk One Come on, shift it, you daft bugger. I need
more beers before I sober up.
Christopher is revealed now. He stops counting. He lies still for a
while. Then very tentatively he gets down.
He looks around. For the first time he is alone on stage.
Christopher I waited for nine more minutes but nobody
else came past and the train was really quiet. And I didn’t
move again. So I realised that the train had stopped. And I
knew that the last stop on the train was London.
I heard the sound of feet and it was a policeman.
The Station Policeman enters and explores the back of the stage.
Christopher Not the one who was on the train before.

The Station Policeman looks at Christopher. Exits,
disappointed. Is replaced by a London Transport Policeman.
Christopher And I could see him through the door, in the
next carriage, and he was looking under the seats. I decided
I didn’t like policemen so much any more. So I got off the
train.
Christopher kneels down.
He rests his head on the ground.
He groans.
Siobhan comes back on to the stage. Christopher notices her. He
stops groaning.
The two look at one another for a while.
Siobhan Left right left right left right. Left right left right
left right. Left right left right left right.
He smiles at her. He joins in with her. Eventually he carries on
without her.
Christopher Left right left right left right left right left
right left right left right left right left right left right left
right.
A Ticket Collector stops him.
Ticket Collector I think someone’s looking for you, sonny.
Christopher Who’s looking for me?
Ticket Collector A policeman.
Christopher I know.
Ticket Collector Oh right. You wait here, and I’ll go and
tell them.
The Ticket Collector walks off. Christopher carries on.
As he walks he counts left and right.
Part Two 69
Christopher Left, right, left, right, left, right.

Voice One Sweet Pastries.
Voice Two Heathrow Airport Check-In Here.
Voice One Bagel factory.
Voice Five Eat.
Voice Three Excellence and taste.
Voice Four Yo! Sushi.
Voice One Stationlink.
Voice Two Buses.
Voice Five WH Smith.
Voice Four Mezzanine.
Voice One Heathrow Express.
Voice Two Clinique.
Voice Three First-Class Lounge.
Voice Four Fullers.
Voice Five EasyCar.co.
Voice Two The Mad Bishop.
Voice Three And Bear Public House.
Voice Four Fuller’s London Pride.
Voice One Dixons.
Voice Two Our Price.
Voice Three Paddington Bear at Paddington Station.
Voice Five Tickets.
Voice One Taxis.
Voice Two First Aid.
Voice Four Eastbourne Terrace.

Voice Two Way Out.
Voice One Praed Street.
Voice Five The Lawn.
Voice Three Q Here Please.
Voice Four Upper Crust.
Voice One Sainsbury’s.
Voice Five Local information.
Voice Three Great Western First.
Voice One Position Closed.
Voice Two Closed.
Voice Four Position Closed.
Voice Three Sock Shop.
Voice Four Fast Ticket Point.
Voice Five Millie’s Cookies.
Voice One Coffee.
Voice Two Fergie to Stay at Manchester United.
Voice Three Freshly Baked Cookies and Muffins.
Voice Two Cold Drinks.
Voice Four Penalty Fares.
Voice One Warning.
Voice Three Savoury Pastries.
Voice Four Platform 14.
Voice Five Burger King.
Voice Two Fresh Filled.
Part Two 71
Voice Three The Reef Café Bar.

Voice Four Business Travel.
Voice One Special Edition.
Voice Two Top 75 Albums.
Voice Five Evening Standard.
As the chorus becomes more cacophonous Christopher finds it more
difficult to continue to walk.
He stops. Rests his head against a box. Puts his hands over his ears.
A Station Guard approaches him.
Station Guard You look lost.
Christopher pulls out his Swiss Army knife.
The Guard backs away.
Station Guard Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Christopher carries on.
Christopher Left right left right left right left right.
He makes his hand into a telescope to limit his field of vision.
He approaches an information counter.
Is this London?
Is this London?
Information Sure is, honey.
Christopher Is this London?
Information Indeed it is.
Christopher How do I get to 451c Chapter Road, London
NW2 5NG?
Information Where is that?
Christopher It’s 451c Chapter Road, London, NW2 5NG.

And sometimes you can write it 451c Chapter Road,
Willesden, London NW2 5NG.
Information Take the tube to Willesden Junction. Or
Willesden Green. Got to be near there somewhere.
Christopher What sort of tube?
Information Are you for real? Over there. See that big
staircase with the escalators? See the sign? Says
Underground. Take the Bakerloo Line to Willesden
Junction or the Jubilee to Willesden Green. You OK, honey?
Ed Don’t do this, Christopher.
Christopher Get away from me.
Ed Christopher, you won’t be able to.
Christopher I’m doing really well.
Ed Where’s your red line gone? See? It’s disappearing,
isn’t it?
Where’s your Swiss Army knife. Have you lost it?
Christopher It’s in my pocket.
Ed Where?
Christopher Here.
Ed How the hell are you going to find the Jubilee Line?
You don’t even know what an escalator is, do you?
Christopher It’s a moving staircase. You step on to it. It
carries you down. It’s funny. Look.
Ed Stop laughing. Everybody’s looking at you.
Christopher It’s like something out of science fiction.
Ed I’m worried about you.
Christopher You’re lying. You killed Wellington.
Part Two 73
Ed Where are you going?

Christopher To watch the people. It’s easy, look. You go to
the black machine. You look at where you want to go. You
find the price. You put your money in.
Ed You haven’t got any money.
Christopher I have. I stole your card.
Ed You little shit.
Christopher You press Ticket Type. You press Adult
Single. £2.20. You Insert £2.20. You Take Ticket and
Change. You go up to the grey gate. You put your ticket in
the slot. It comes out of the other side.
Customer Get a move on.
Ed There’s no Jubilee Line. How are you going to get on
the Jubilee Line to Willesden Green? You’re in the wrong
place.
Christopher There’s a Bakerloo Line. Look. I can go to
Willesden Junction.
Ed Come back home.
Christopher I can’t.
Ed You can.
Christopher You told a lie. You killed Wellington.
Swindon’s not my home any more. My home is 451c Chapter
Road, London NW2 5NG.
Ed looks at him for a while.
Ed Go to the left.
Christopher I know.
Ed The train will be very noisy.
Christopher I know.
Ed It’ll really scare you.
Christopher I know.
Ed Try not to let it. Watch what the people do. Watch how
they get on and off.
Christopher Yes.
The company stand with Christopher on the platform.
Ed Count the trains. Figure it out. Get the rhythm right.
Train coming. Train stopped. Train going. Silence. Train
coming. Train stopped. Train going. Silence.
Christopher Train coming. Train stopped. Train going.
Silence. Train coming. Train stopped. Train going. Silence.
Train coming. Train stopped. Train going. Silence.
Christopher goes into his pocket. He can’t find Toby.
Christopher Toby?
He looks more. He can’t find him. He panics. He stands up.
Toby? Where are you?
He explores the stage. He calls for Toby. He stays calm.
Toby? Toby? Toby. What are you doing down there?
He climbs down on to the tracks to rescue Toby.
Man with Socks Jesus. What are you doing?
Christopher My rat is on here.
Man with Socks Get out of there, for Christ’s sake.
Christopher Toby . . . Toby . . . Toby . . .
Man with Socks Oh Christ. Oh Christ.
The Man pulls Christopher off the tracks. Christopher screams
for being touched. He calms. He puts Toby back in his pocket.
Part Two 75
Man with Socks What the hell do you think you were
playing at?
Christopher I was finding Toby. He’s my pet rat.
Man with Socks Bleeding Nora.
Punk Girl Is he OK?
Man with Socks Him? Thanks a bundle. Jesus Christ. A pet
rat. Oh shit. My train. Bollocks.
Punk Girl Are you OK?
She touches his arm. He screams.
OK. OK. OK. Is there anything I can do to help you?
Christopher Stand further away. I’ve got a Swiss Army
knife and it has a saw blade and it could cut someone’s
finger off.
Punk Girl OK buddy. I’m going to take that as a no.
Punk Girl and Man with Socks leave. Christopher counts the
trains again.
Christopher Train coming. Train stopped. Train going.
Silence.
Is this train going to Willesden Junction?
Voice One There are 53,963 holiday cottages in
Scandanavia and Germany.
Voice Two VITABIOTICS.
Christopher Is this train going to Willesden Junction?
Voice Three 3435.
Voice Five Penalty £10 if you fail to show a valid ticket for
your entire journey.
Voice Four Discover Gold, Then Bronze.

Voice One TVIC.
Voice Three EPBIC.
Voice Five Obstructing the doors can be dangerous.
Voice Two BRV.
Voice Three Con. IC.
Voice Four TALK TO THE WORLD.
Voice One Warwick Avenue.
Maida Vale.
Kilburn Park.
Queen’s Park.
Kensal Green.
Willesden Junction.
Christopher Where is 451c Chapter Road, London NW2
5NG?
A Shopkeeper shows him an A–Z of London.
Shopkeeper A–Z of London. Two ninety-five. Are you
going to buy it or not?
Shopkeeper Well you can get your dirty fingers off it if you
don’t mind.
Christopher Where is 451c Chapter Road, London
NW2 5NG?
Shopkeeper You can either buy the A–Z or you can hop it.
I’m not a walking encyclopaedia.
Part Two 77
Christopher Is that the A–Z?

Shopkeeper No, it’s a sodding crocodile.
Christopher Is that the A–Z?
Shopkeeper Yes, it’s the A–Z?
Christopher Can I buy it?
Shopkeeper Two pounds ninety-five, but you’re giving me
the money first. I’m not having you scarpering.
Christopher examines the A–Z. He opens it. He looks for
Chapter Road.
A Man on a Phone approaches him.
Man on Phone Big cheese. Oh yes. The nurses. Never.
Bloody liar. Total. Bloody liar.
The Man leaves.
Christopher closes the map. He stands up. He looks to the
audience. He talks. His voice quietens the more he talks. And as he
talks he squats. And then sits. And then huddles into a ball.
Christopher Left. Right. Left. Right. Left. Right.
Left.
Right.
Left.
Right.
Left.
Right.
Left.
Christopher sits silently, huddled for a while.
Judy and Roger enter.
Judy I don’t care whether you thought it was funny or not.
Roger Judy look, I’m sorry, OK.
Judy Well perhaps you should have thought about that

before you made me look like a complete idiot.
Christopher stands up. Judy sees him.
The two look at one another.
Christopher You weren’t in so I waited for you.
Judy Christopher.
Christopher What?
Judy Christopher.
She goes to hug him. He pushes her away so hard that he falls over.
Roger What the hell is going on?
Judy I’m so sorry, Christopher. I forgot.
Judy spreads her fingers. Christopher spreads his to touch hands
with her.
Roger I suppose this means Ed’s here.
Christopher shows Toby to Roger. Roger recoils.
Christopher He’s hungry. Have you got any food I can
give him and some water.
Judy Where’s your father, Christopher?
Christopher I think he’s in Swindon.
Roger Thank God for that.
Judy But how did you get here?
Christopher I came on the train.
Judy Oh my God, Christopher. I didn’t . . . I didn’t think
I’d ever . . . Why are you here on your own?
Christopher, you’re soaking. Roger, don’t just stand there.
Roger Are you going to come in or are you going to stay
out here all night?
Part Two 79
Christopher I’m going to live with you because Father

killed Wellington with a garden fork and I’m frightened
of him.
Roger Jumping Jack Christ.
Judy Roger, please. Come on. Christopher, let’s go inside
and get you dried off.
Go on or you’ll catch your death.
Christopher doesn’t move.
Judy You follow Roger.
Christopher doesn’t move.
Are you OK, Christopher?
Christopher I’m very tired.
Judy I know, love. Will you let me help you get your
clothes off? I can get you a clean T-shirt. And some runners.
You could get yourself into bed.
She changes him.
He wears one of her old T-shirts.
You’re very brave.
Christopher Yes.
Judy You never wrote to me.
Christopher I know.
Judy Why didn’t you write to me, Christopher? I wrote
you all those letters. I kept thinking something dreadful had
happened or you’d moved away and I’d never find out
where you were.
Christopher Father said you were dead.
Judy What?
Christopher He said you went into hospital because you

had something wrong with your heart. And then you had a
heart attack and died.
Judy Oh my God.
Judy starts to howl.
Christopher Why are you doing that?
Judy Oh Christopher, I’m so sorry.
Christopher It’s not your fault.
Judy Bastard. The Bastard.
Christopher, let me hold your hand. Just for once. Just for
me. Will you? I won’t hold it hard.
Christopher I don’t like people holding my hand.
Judy No. OK. That’s OK.
London Policeman I need to speak to him.
Judy He’s been through enough today already.
London Policeman I know. But I still need to speak
to him.
Christopher Boone. Please can you open the door.
Roger Come on, Christopher.
Judy Christopher love. It’s all right. Just open the door,
will you, sweetheart?
Christopher Is he going to take me away?
Judy No, Christopher, he isn’t.
Christopher Will you let him take me away?
Judy No. I won’t.
Christopher Do you promise?
Judy Yes. I promise.
Part Two 81
London Policeman Your father says you’ve run away. Is

that right?
Christopher Yes.
London Policeman Is this your mother?
Christopher Yes.
London Policeman Why did you run away?
Christopher Because Father killed Wellington who is a dog
and so that meant that he could kill me.
London Policeman So I’ve been told. Do you want to go
back to Swindon to your father or do you want to stay here?
Christopher I want to stay here.
London Policeman And how do you feel about that?
Christopher I want to stay here.
London Policeman Hang on, I’m asking your mother.
Judy He told Christopher I was dead.
London Policeman OK. Let’s. . . let’s not get into an
argument about who said what here. I just want to know
whether . . .
Judy Of course he can stay.
London Policeman Well, I think that probably settles it as
far as I’m concerned.
Christopher Are you going to take me back to Swindon?
London Policeman No.
If your husband turns up and causes any trouble, just give
us a ring. Otherwise you’re going to have to sort this out
amongst yourselves.
Ed I’m talking to her whether you like it or not.
Judy Roger. Don’t. Just . . .
Roger I’m not going to be spoken to like that in my

own home.
Ed I’ll talk to you how I damn well like.
Judy You have no right to be here.
Ed He’s my son in case you’ve forgotten.
Judy What in God’s name did you think you were playing
at saying those things to him?
Ed You were the one that bloody left.
Judy So, you decided to just wipe me out of his life
altogether?
Roger Now let’s just all calm down here, shall we?
Ed Well, isn’t that what you wanted?
Judy I wrote to him every week.
Ed What is the bloody use is writing to him?
Roger Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.
Ed I cooked his meals. I cleaned his clothes. I looked after
him every weekend. I looked after him when he was ill. I
took him to the doctor. I worried myself sick every time he
wandered off somewhere at night. I went to school every
time he got into a fight. And you? What? You wrote him
some sodding letters.
Christopher gets up out of the sleeping bag.
Judy So you thought it was OK to tell him his mother
was dead?
Roger Now is not the time.
Christopher finds his Swiss Army knife.
Ed I’m going to see him. And if you try to stop me . . .
Ed gets into Christopher’s room. Christopher points his knife
at him.
Part Two 83
Judy comes in.

Judy It’s OK, Christopher, I won’t let him do anything.
You’re all right.
Ed Christopher?
Ed squats down, completely exhausted.
Christopher still points the knife at him.
Ed Christopher I’m really, really sorry. About – About –
About the letters. I never meant . . . I promise I will never
do anything like that again.
Ed spreads his fingers and tries to get Christopher to touch him.
Christopher ignores him. He still holds his knife out. He groans.
Ed Shit. Christopher, please.
London Policeman Mr Boone.
Ed What are you doing here? Did you call him?
London Policeman Mr Boone, come on mate.
Ed Don’t bleeding mate me. This is my son.
London Policeman I know. This can all be sorted out. Just
come with me. Please.
Judy I think you should go now. I think he’s frightened.
Ed I’ll be back.
Christopher. I’ll be back. I promise you, Christopher. I
promise you, lad.
Christopher groans.
London Policeman watches Ed leave.
Roger watches them both leave.
Judy and Christopher are left alone together.
Judy You go back to sleep now. Everything is going to be
all right. I promise.
They leave Christopher in his room. He lies down. He settles.

Immediately he has settled it is the next morning. Roger and Judy
give Christopher breakfast. He is overwhelmed by them.
Roger OK. He can stay for a few days.
Voice Three A plate of tomatoes.
Roger gives him a plate of tomatoes.
Judy He can stay as long as he needs to stay.
Voice Six Some egg whites.
Judy gives him some egg whites.
Roger This flat is hardly big enough for two people, let
alone three.
Voice Four A tin of beans.
Roger gives him a tin of beans.
Judy He can understand what you’re saying, you know?
Voice Five Tomato ketchup.
Judy gives him tomato ketchup.
Roger What’s he going to do? There’s no school for him to
go to. We’ve both got jobs. It’s bloody ridiculous.
Voice One A strawberry milkshake.
Roger gives him a strawberry milkshake.
Judy Roger. That’s enough. You can stay as long as you
want to stay.
Christopher It was Mother who gave me the milkshake.
They look at him.
It was Mother who gave me the milkshake, not you.
Judy picks the milkshake up.
Part Two 85
Christopher You need to shout more loudly at him. Like

you’re really angry with him not just being nice.
Judy looks at him. Nods.
Judy OK.
She puts the milkshake down. She’s much angrier.
Roger. That’s enough. You can stay as long as you want
to stay.
She looks at Christopher, examining his response. Expecting
more feedback.
Christopher I have to go back to Swindon.
They both look at him.
Judy Christopher, you’ve only just got here.
Christopher I have to go back because I have to sit my
Maths A-Level.
Judy You’re doing Maths A-Level?
Christopher Yes. I’m taking it on Wednesday and
Thursday and Friday next week.
Judy God.
Christopher The Reverend Peters is going to be the
invigilator.
Judy I mean that’s really good.
Christopher I’m going to get an A grade. And that’s why I
have to go back to Swindon. Except I can’t see Father. So I
have to go back to Swindon with you.
Judy I don’t know whether that’s going to be possible.
Christopher But I have to go.
Judy Let’s talk about this some other time, OK?
Christopher OK. But I have to go to Swindon.
He stands and leaves.

Judy Christopher. Please.
Christopher What time is it?
Siobhan Seven minutes past two in the morning.
Christopher I can’t sleep.
Siobhan It’s because you’re scared of Mr Shears. You’re
being silly.
Christopher There’s nobody about. You can hear traffic.
Christopher wanders down the street.
Siobhan What cars are there?
Christopher A Fiesta. A Nissan Micra. A Peugeot. A Ford
Granada.
Siobhan What colours are they?
Christopher I can’t tell. I can only see orange and black.
And mixtures of orange and black.
Siobhan Look at the things people have in their
front garden.
Christopher Oh yes. Is that an elf?
Siobhan It’s a gnome. And a teddy bear. And a little
pond, look.
Christopher And a cooker.
I like looking up at the sky.
Siobhan Me too.
Christopher When you look at the sky at night you know
you are looking at stars, which are hundreds and thousands
of light years away from you. And some of the stars don’t
exist any more because their light has taken so long to get to
us that they are already dead, or they have exploded and
collapsed into red dwarfs. And that makes you seem very
Part Two 87
small, and if you have difficult things in your life it is nice to

think that they are what is called negligible which means
they are so small you don’t have to take them into account
when you are calculating something.
I can’t see any stars here.
Siobhan No.
Christopher It’s because of all the light pollution in
London. All the light from the streetlights and car headlights
and floodlights and lights in the buildings reflect off tiny
particles in the atmosphere and they get in the way of light
from the stars.
Two of the company approach. They talk in Ukrainian.
Ukrainian One Ty wedel tovo malchika za mashynoy? (Can you
see that boy hiding behind the car?)
Christopher Who are they?
Siobhan Just strangers. Hide down between the skip and
the van.
Ukrainian Two Da, etot gorod polon grjobanykh sumashedshykh.
(Yes, I swear this city is full of crazy people.)
He hides.
They pass him, chatting in Ukrainian.
Christopher What language is that?
Siobhan I think it’s Russian. Sshhh.
Christopher Have they gone? Have they gone? Have they
gone? Did they see me?
Judy starts looking for Christopher.
Judy Christopher? Christopher?
Christopher stands up. Judy stares at him.
Judy Jesus Christ. What are you doing out here? I’ve been
looking for you. I thought you’d gone. If you ever do that
again, I swear to God, Christopher, I love you, but . . . I
don’t know what I’ll do.
You need to promise me you won’t leave the flat on your
own again, Christopher. Christopher, do you promise me
that?
Christopher Yes.
Judy You can’t trust people in London.
Christopher Is it because they’re strangers?
Roger Don’t be a bloody fool.
Judy I’m not being a bloody fool, Roger, they got
somebody in. They didn’t even call me. They didn’t ask
me if I wanted to come back. I’ve been off two days. It’s
illegal that is.
Roger It was a temporary job, for Christ’s sake.
Christopher I have to go to Swindon to take my A-Level.
Judy Christopher, not now.
I’m getting phone calls from your father threatening to take
me to court. I’m getting it in the neck from Roger. It’s not a
good time.
Christopher But I have to go because it’s been arranged
and the Reverend Peters is going to invigilate.
Judy It’s only an exam. I can ring the school. We can get it
postponed. You can take it some other time.
Christopher I can’t take it another time. It’s been
arranged. And I’ve done lots of revision. And Mrs Gascoyne
says we could use a room at school.
Judy Christopher, I am just about holding this together.
But I am this close to losing it, all right? So just give me
some . . .
Part Two 89
She breaks. She cries. She holds her fist to her mouth to try to stop
herself.
She leaves the room. She comes back.
Judy Would you like an iced lolly?
Christopher Yes I would, please.
Judy Would you like a strawberry one?
Christopher Yes I would, please, because that’s red. What’s
it called here?
Judy It’s called Hampstead Heath. I love it. You can see all
over London.
Christopher Where are the planes going to?
Judy Heathrow, I think.
Christopher, I rang Mrs Gascoyne.
I told her that you’re going to take your Maths A-Level
next year.
Christopher screams. He throws his iced lolly away.
Christopher, please. Calm down. OK. OK, Christopher. Just
calm down, love.
Woman on Heath Is he OK?
Judy Well, what does it look like to you?
Christopher screams and screams. He only stops because his chest
hurts and he runs out of breath.
Roger gives Christopher a radio and three children’s books.
Roger Here we are. 100 Number Puzzles. It’s from the
library. This one is called The Origins of the Universe. And this
one is Nuclear Power.
Christopher They’re for children.
They’re not very good.
I’m not going to read them.

Roger Well, it’s nice to know my contribution is
appreciated.
Judy Christopher, I made you a chart. Because you’ve got
to eat, love. In here is some Complan and it’s got strawberry
flavouring in it.
Roger Complan?
Judy Be quiet, Roger. Christopher, if you drink 200
millilitres then I’m going to put a bronze star on your chart.
Roger I don’t believe this.
Judy Roger, for God’s sake, please. If you drink 400
millilitres you get a silver star.
Roger Ha!
Judy And if you drink 600 millilitres you get a gold star.
Roger A gold star. Well, that’s very original I have to say.
Judy Roger, stop it.
Christopher picks up the radio. He leaves. He de-tunes it so that it
is between two stations. He listens to the white noise. He turns the
volume up very high.
Some time.
Roger watches him. He opens and drinks four cans of lager. He
necks the lager in one go.
Roger comes into his room. He is very drunk.
Roger You think you’re so bloody clever, don’t you? Don’t
you ever, ever think about other people for one second, eh?
Well, I bet you’re really pleased with yourself now, aren’t
you?
He grabs at Christopher. Christopher rolls himself into a ball
to hide.
Part Two 91
Judy comes into the room. She grabs Roger. She pulls him away
from Christopher.
Christopher is moaning still in his ball.
Judy Christopher, I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry.
He remains in his ball.
He doesn’t stop moaning.
Judy and Roger leave.
Eventually he calms.
Christopher What time is it?
Judy It’s four o’clock.
Christopher What are you doing?
Judy I’m packing some clothes.
Christopher Where’s Mr Shears?
Judy He’s asleep.
Come downstairs. Bring Toby. Get into the car.
Christopher Into Mr Shears car?
Judy That’s right.
Christopher Are you stealing the car?
Judy I’m just borrowing it.
Christopher Where are we going?
Judy We’re going home.
Christopher Do you mean home in Swindon?
Judy Yes.
Christopher Is Father going to be there?
Judy Please, Christopher. Don’t give me any hassle right
now, OK?
Christopher I don’t want to be with Father.

Judy Just . . . just . . . it’s going to be all right, Christopher,
OK? It’s going to be all right.
Christopher Are we going back to Swindon so I can do my
Maths A-Level?
Judy What?
Christopher I’m meant to be doing my Maths A-Level
tomorrow.
Judy We’re going back to Swindon because if we stay in
London any longer. . . someone was going to get hurt. And I
don’t necessarily mean you.
Now I need you to be quiet for a while.
Christopher How long do you need me to be quiet for?
Judy Jesus. Half an hour, Christopher. I need you to be
quiet for half an hour.
Ed How did you get in here?
Judy This is my house too, in case you’ve forgotten.
Ed Is your fancy man here, as well?
Christopher gets a set of bongo drums out of one of the boxes. He
begins drumming on them. He drums and drums and drums.
Judy Christopher.
Christopher.
He’s gone. You don’t need to panic.
Christopher Where’s he gone to?
Judy He’s gone to stay with Rhodri for a while.
Christopher Is he going to be arrested? And go to prison?
Judy What for?
Christopher For killing Wellington.
Part Two 93
Judy I don’t think so. I think he’ll only get arrested if Mrs
Shears presses charges.
Christopher What’s that?
Judy It’s when you tell the police to arrest somebody for
little crimes. They only arrest people for little crimes if you
ask them.
Christopher Is killing Wellington a little crime?
Judy Yes love it is.
In the next few weeks we’re going to try and get a place of
our own to live in.
Christopher Can I do my Maths A-Level?
Judy You’re not listening to me are you, Christopher?
Christopher I am listening to you.
Judy I told you. I rang your headmistress. I told her you
were in London. I told her you’d do it next year.
Christopher But I’m here now so I can take it.
Judy I’m sorry, Christopher. I didn’t know we’d be coming
back. This isn’t going to solve anything.
Mrs Shears You’ve got a bloody nerve.
Mrs Shears Swanning round here as though nothing ever
happened.
Judy Ignore her, Christopher.
Mrs Shears So has he finally dumped you too?
Mrs Shears You had it coming. Don’t try and pretend that
you didn’t. Because you bloody did.
Judy We’re going to the school.

Christopher stops drumming.
Siobhan So you’re Christopher’s mother.
Judy That’s right. And you’re . . .
Siobhan I’m Siobhan. It’s nice to meet you.
Judy Yeah. Yes. Yes. It’s nice to meet you too.
Siobhan Hello Christopher.
Christopher Hello.
Siobhan Are you OK?
Christopher I’m tired.
Judy He’s a bit upset.
Siobhan Because of the A-Level, you said.
Judy He won’t eat. He won’t sleep.
Siobhan Yeah.
I spoke to Mrs Gascoyne after you called.
Judy Right.
Siobhan She still actually has your A-Level papers in the
three sealed envelopes in her desk.
Mrs Gascoyne I still actually have the A-Level papers in
my desk.
Christopher Does that mean I can still do my A-Level?
Siobhan I think so. We’re going to ring the Reverend
Peters to make sure he can still come in this afternoon. And
Mrs Gascoyne is going to make a call to the examination
board to say that you’re going to take the exam after all. And
hopefully they’ll say that that’s OK. But we can’t know for
sure. I thought I should tell you now. So you could think
about it.
Part Two 95
Christopher So I could think about what?

Siobhan Is this what you want to do, Christopher? If you
say you don’t want to do it no one is going to be angry with
you. And it won’t be wrong or illegal or stupid. It will just be
what you want and that will be fine.
Christopher I want to do it.
Siobhan OK.
How tired are you?
Christopher Very.
Siobhan How’s your brain when you think about maths?
Christopher I don’t think it really works very well.
Siobhan What’s the logarithmic formula for the
approximate number of prime numbers not greater than x?
Christopher I can’t think.
Reverend Peters enters. He picks up one envelope. He opens it.
He looks at it. He carefully places it face down on Christopher’s
table.
He goes to sit opposite him. He takes out a stopwatch.
Reverend Peters So young man, are we ready to roll?
Christopher turns over the exam paper.
He stares at it.
He can’t understand any questions. He panics. His breathing
becomes erratic. To calm himself he counts the cubes of cardinal
numbers.
Christopher 1, 8, 27, 64, 125, 216, 343, 512, 729, 1000,
1331.
Reverend Peters Are you all right, Christopher?
Christopher I can’t read the question.
Reverend Peters What do you mean?

Christopher I can’t read the question.
Reverend Peters Can you see the question?
Christopher I can see the questions but I can’t read the
questions because when I look at the words they all seem
confused and the wrong way round and mixed up to me.
Reverend Peters Right.
Christopher What does this question say?
Reverend Peters Christopher, I’m afraid I can’t help you
like that. I’m not allowed to.
Christopher groans.
Siobhan Christopher. Stop groaning. Get your breath.
Count the cubes of the cardinal numbers again.
Christopher 1, 8, 27, 64, 125, 216, 343, 512, 729, 1000,
1331.
Siobhan Now. Have another go.
He looks at the questions again.
Christopher Show that a triangle with sides that can be
written in the form n2 + 1, n2 – 1 and 2n (where n is greater
than 1) is right-angled.
Siobhan You don’t have to tell us.
Christopher What?
Siobhan You don’t have to tell us how you solved it.
Christopher But it’s my favourite question.
Siobhan Yes but it’s not very interesting.
Christopher I think it is.
Siobhan Christopher, people won’t want to hear about the
answer to a maths question in a play.
Part Two 97
Look, why don’t you tell it after the curtain call?

When you’ve finished you can do a bow and then people
who want to can go home and if anybody wants find out how
you solved the maths question then they can stay and you
can tell them at the end.
OK?
Christopher OK.
He picks up his pencil.
He starts answering.
Reverend Peters Muchas Grazias, mio compadre. Make sure
your name’s on the front of the paper. Pop it in here. Don’t
panic. I’ll have a quick word with the big man for you. And
let’s see what happens, shall we?
Ed enters.
Judy is behind him.
Ed Don’t scream.
OK, Christopher. I’m not going to hurt you.
Ed crouches down by Christopher.
I wanted to ask you how the exam went.
Judy Tell him, Christopher.
Please, Christopher.
Christopher I don’t know if I got all the questions right
because I was really tired and I hadn’t eaten any food so I
couldn’t think properly.
Ed nods. There is some time.
Ed Thank you.
Christopher What for?
Ed Just . . . thank you. I’m very proud of you, Christopher.

Very proud. I’m sure you did really well.
Judy gives Christopher the puzzle that she sent him.
Christopher successfully solves the puzzle, separating the
two parts.
Siobhan How’s your flat?
Christopher It’s not really a flat. It’s a room. It’s small. The
corridor’s painted brown. Other people use the toilet.
Mother has to clean the toilet before I can use it. Sometimes
there are other people in there so I do wet myself. The
corridor smells like gravy and bleach. The room smells like
socks and pine air freshener. I don’t like waiting for my
A-Level result.
If I was living at your house I would have room to put all my
things and I wouldn’t have to share the toilet with strangers.
Can I come and live in your house so that I’ll have room to
put all my things and I won’t have to share the toilet with
strangers?
Siobhan No, Christopher. You can’t.
Christopher Why can’t I? Is it because I’m too noisy and
sometimes I’m ‘difficult to control’.
Siobhan No. It’s because I’m not your mother,
Christopher.
Christopher No.
Siobhan That’s very important, Christopher. Do you
understand that?
Mother doesn’t get back from work till 5.30. So I have to go
to Father’s house between 3.49 and 5.30 because I’m not
allowed to be on my own. Mother said I didn’t have a choice.
I pushed the bed up against the door in case Father tries to
Part Two 99
come in. Sometimes he tries to talk to me through the door.

I don’t answer him. Sometimes he sits outside the door
quietly for a long time.
Ed enters. He’s holding a kitchen timer.
Ed Christopher, can I have a talk with you?
Christopher turns away from Siobhan.
Christopher No. No. No. No. No. No, you can’t. No.
Judy It’s OK. I’ll be here.
Christopher I don’t want to talk to Father.
Ed I’ll do you a deal. Five minutes, OK? That’s all. Then
you can go.
Ed sets the timer for five minutes. It starts ticking.
Christopher, look . . . Things can’t go on like this. I don’t
know about you, but this . . . this just hurts too much. You
being in the house but refusing to talk to me. You have to
learn to trust me . . . And I don’t care how long it takes . . . if
it’s a minute one day and two minutes the next and three
minutes the next and it takes years I don’t care. Because this
is important. This is more important than anything else.
Let’s call it . . . let’s call it a project. A project we have to do
together. You have to spend more time with me. And I . . . I
have to show you that you can trust me. And it will be
difficult at first because . . . because it’s a difficult project.
But it will get better, I promise. You don’t have to say
anything, not right now. You have to think about it. And . . .
I’ve got you a present. To show you that I really mean what I
say. And to say sorry. And because . . . well you’ll see what I
mean.
Ed leaves.
He comes back with a big cardboard box. It is importantly cardboard
and different to the other boxes. There’s a blanket in it. He puts his
hands in the box. He takes out a little sandy-coloured Golden

Retriever.
He’s two months old.
The dog sits on Christopher’s lap.
Judy You won’t be able to take him away with you, I’m
afraid. The bedsit’s too small. But your father’s going to look
after him here. And you can come and take him out for
walks whenever you want.
Christopher Does he have a name?
Ed No. You can decide what to call him.
Christopher Sandy. He’s called Sandy.
The alarm goes off.
They look at each other.
Judy We need to go now.
Ed Yes.
Judy We’ll come back tomorrow and you can see him then.
Siobhan Christopher.
Christopher Yes.
Siobhan Here.
Christopher What’s this?
Siobhan It’s your result, Christopher.
Christopher Right.
Siobhan You need to open it and read it.
Christopher Right.
He does.
Siobhan Well? What does it say?
Christopher I got an A.
Part Two 101
Siobhan Oh. Oh. That’s just. That’s terrific, Christopher.

Christopher Yes.
Siobhan Aren’t you happy?
Christopher Yes. It’s the best result.
Siobhan I know it is. How’s your dog?
Christopher He’s very well. I stayed last week at Father’s
because Mother got flu and he slept on my bed so he can
bark in case anybody comes into my room at night.
Siobhan Right. How are you getting on with your father,
Christopher?
Christopher He planted a vegetable patch in his garden. I
helped him and Sandy watched. We planted carrots and
peas and spinach and I’m going to pick them when they’re
ready. He bought me a book, which is called Further Maths for
A-Level. He told Mrs Gascoyne that I’m going to take
Further Maths next year. She said OK.
Mrs Gascoyne OK.
Siobhan I heard that.
Christopher I’m going to pass it and get an A grade. And
then in two years I’ll take A-Level Physics and get an A
grade. And then I’m going to go to university in another
town. It doesn’t have to be in London because I don’t like
London and there are universities in lots of places and not
all of them are in big cities. I can live in a flat with a garden
and a proper toilet. I can take Sandy and my books and my
computer. Then I will get a First-Class Honours degree.
Then I will be a scientist. I can do these things.
Siobhan I hope so.
Christopher I can because I went to London on my own.
She looks at him.
I solved the mystery of Who Killed Wellington.
She looks at him.

I found my mother. I was brave.
Siobhan You were.
Christopher And I wrote a book.
Siobhan I know. I read it. We turned it into a play.
Christopher Yes. Does that mean I can do anything, do
you think?
Does that mean I can do anything, Siobhan?
Does that mean I can do anything?
The two look at each other for a while.
Lights black.
After the curtain call Christopher returns to the stage. He gets the
attention of anybody still in the audience.
Part Two 103
Postscript
Christopher Thank you very much for clapping and
thank you very much for staying behind to
listen to how I answered the question on my
Maths A-level. Siobhan said it wouldn’t be
very interesting but I said it was.
She didn’t tell me what I should use, so I
decided to use everything in the theatre
including VL000 arc lights, which are
moving lights, a smoke machine, light-
emitting diodes, UBL control speakers, an
overhead projector and a woman called
a deputy stage manager who will operate
these.
The lights referred to should be the actual lights used in the
production and these references should change accordingly.
I had ninety minutes to answer ten questions
– but I spent thirty minutes doing groaning
which meant I only had six minutes to
answer this question.
A timer may be projected, displaying 6.00.00.
And this is what I wrote.
Christopher starts the timer. A right-angled triangle, made using
lasers, might float above Christopher and slowly lower around
him. If this is not possible the triangle could be made by projection
or by the company.
‘Prove the following:
‘A triangle with sides that can be written in
the form n² + 1, n² – 1 and 2n (where n is
bigger than 1) is right-angled.’
If the triangle is right-angled, one of its
angles will be 90 degrees and will therefore
follow Pythagoras’s theorem.
According to Pythagoras:
(Company sing/rap/ Christopher with delay.)
If the sum of the squares of the two shorter
sides
Equals the square of the hypotenuse
Then the triangle is
Right-angled.
Pythagoras said that a² + b² = c².
To put it simply, if you draw squares outside
the three sides of a right-angled triangle,
then add up the area of the two smaller
squares, this will be equal to the area of the
larger square. This is only true if the triangle
is a right-angled triangle.
A projected diagram may show this at this point.
The A-level question is an algebraic formula
for making right-angled triangles. Algebra is
like a computer programme that works for
whatever numbers you put into it.
I have to show that a triangle with sides
whose lengths are n² + 1, n² – 1 and 2n
(where n is bigger than 1) is right-angled.
To find the area of the squares you have to
multiply one of the sides by itself. I must
show that the area of the squares on the two
shorter sides adds up to the square on the
long side.
This means doing some algebra.
A formula representing the necessary mathematical equation may
appear at this point.
Let me show you.
Part Two 105
He refers to the demonstrated triangle.

To find the area of 2n, we simply multiply 2n
by 2n. This equals 4n².
He refers to the triangle again.
As he solves the problem so any demonstration of triangle or
equation might change to follow the solution.
To find the area of n² – 1, we must multiply
n² – 1 by n² – 1.
I will draw lines on the equation to show
what is multiplied.
(Stupid people at my school get very
confused at this point. Although I am not
allowed to call them stupid even though that
is what they are.)
That gives me n to the power of four – 2n² +
1.
Now I must add these together:
n to the power of 4 + 4n² – 2n² +1 = n to the
power of 4 + 2n ² +1.
If the triangle is right-angled, this answer
should be equal to the area of the larger
square. Let’s check:
n² + 1 x n² +1 = n to power of 4 + 2n² + 1.
So the areas of the two small squares add
up to the area of the large square. So all my
squares fit together to satisfy Pythagoras’s
theorem. So the triangle is right-angled.
Now let’s check this proof with some
examples:
If n = 2, the triangle has lengths 3, 4 and 5,
and 3² + 4² is 9 +16 which is 25 which is 5².
If n = 3, the sides of the triangle are 8, 6 and

10, and 8² + 6² is 64 + 36 which is 100 which
is 10².
n = 4: the sides of the triangle are 15, 8 and
17, and 15² + 8² is 225 + 64 which is 289
which is 17².
26, and 24² +10² is 576 +100 which is 676
which is 26².
37, and 35² + 12² is 1225 + 144 which is
1369 which is 37².
My proof shows why this works for every n.
Quod erat demonstrandum.
And that is how I got an A grade!!!
Dog in Night_TeachingNotes7.qxd:Meth Coll Prelims 7/3/13 14:42 Page 107

Dog in the Night-Time:
Teaching and learning activities
Developing literary analysis

The structured active learning approaches outlined in the
scheme of work enable pupils to build their learning and
construct their understanding. Pupils are required to use drama
activities to:
✦ Analyse writers’ complex techniques and skills
✦ Understand texts in a cultural and historical context
✦ Understand writers’ intentions and choices of language,
structures and ideas
✦ Analyse the different contributions made by novelists,
playwrights, directors, narrators
✦ Analyse images, drama and literary techniques
Analytical writing
Such work has a direct effect on pupils’ ability to write about
literary and dramatic techniques and use evidence from the text
to back up their ideas. Integrated within the work are, therefore,
suggestions for further analytical work. It is important that the
drama activities are not seen as separate from these – they should
complement each other. Discussions and written work should
be directly informed by drama work, resulting in a more detailed
analysis and understanding of the text and of the dramatic/
literary process.
107
Structuring the activities

The use of drama conventions in isolation will not produce
deep learning opportunities. The ‘learning’ section of the
scheme of work is devised in such a way that pupils build their
learning and are provided with the appropriate contexts and
techniques to produce high-level responses and skills. Sharing
such an approach with the pupils allows them to have an
understanding of ‘the bigger picture’, vital if they are to become
independent, active learners. The scheme of work is addressed
directly to the pupils so that they can understand and analyse
the learning process and consider the progress they are making
in each of the skills identified. While individual activities are
identified within the scheme, they are often interlinked and
interdependent and are best approached within the complete
scheme of work. Similarly, lesson breaks are not identified, as
these will be dependent on the length of lessons and nature of
the learning groups involved.
Resources
All the resources required are identified in the scheme of work.
Some preparation time is required to ensure that these are
available when required. For example the items required for
activities (string, hoops, bongo drums, etc.) can, when not readily
available, be purchased cheaply or substituted. For ease of use,
a laptop and multi-media projector will enable extracts of the text
and maps to be projected on to a screen for pupils to see. If a
multi-media projector is not available, then the use of an overhead
projector is also effective for presenting images and text. Film
soundtracks provide effective music to be used during the
activities but other appropriate music, without lyrics, can be
used in the places identified, as can the bongo drums referenced
in the script. Copies of the quotations and the extract from the
novel are available on the Methuen Drama website:
www.bloomsbury.com/criticalscripts
108
Use of space
While some of the activities benefit from a more open
environment that allows for a flexible use of floor space, tables
and chairs, a drama studio or large space is not required. If
space is limited, a classroom can easily be adjusted to enable all
the activities to take place.
109
1. Introducing and exploring ideas
To analyse text and introduce key ideas within the play.
Learning Teaching & Resources
✦ The whole class (divided in ▣ The word-cards need

half) sits in two large circles, to be prepared before the
surrounding two inner circles lesson and set out (in a
of words (written/printed random order) within
individually on to pieces of two separate circles.
card). The words, if rearranged,
make two quotations from the
script.
✦ Around the room will be The quotations need to

quotations from the play (‘I be prepared before the
promise’, ‘Do you know that lesson (see website).
it is wrong to lie’, If you don’t
tell the truth now, then later
on it hurts even more’) and
mathematical equations,
questions and prime numbers
(‘864 × 251’, ‘157, 163, 167,
173, 17’, ‘Show that a
triangle with sides that can be
written in the form n2 + 1,
n2 – 1 and 2n (where n is
greater than 1) is right-
angled’.)
✦ Read out all the words around ‘The word metaphor

the circle, thinking carefully means carrying some-
about the order the words thing from one place to
might go in, so that they another and it is when
make sense as one quotation. you describe something
Through discussion and by using a word for
negotiation, reposition the something that it isn’t.’
words around the circle so
‘I don’t like acting
that they can be read out in
because it is pretending
the ‘correct’ order. Everyone
that something is real
listens to both quotations
when it is not really real
being read.
at all so it is like a kind of
✦ As a class, sit in a large semi- lie.
circle facing the projected
quotations and discuss what
they mean and why they
might be important to the
text.
✦ Look at the projected image ▣ Project the quotations
of a Venn diagram with the
quotations printed within ▣ Project a Venn
each circle. Discuss which Diagram
words or ideas suggested by
either quotation could be Quotation
placed in the central overlap? Quotation
Why?
111
Further activities, reflection, analysis or discussion
✦ Discuss what the quotations and numbers around the

room suggest about the play you are about to explore.
✦ Speaking and Listening – Discuss the strategies used to
negotiate the ‘correct’ order and the clues you used to
formulate a response.
✦ How might a Venn diagram be used to explore
characters, themes or ideas in the play?
✦ How and why might the playwright focus on the use of
metaphors, pretence and lies to convey ideas to the
audience?
2. Introducing a context and a character

To develop a context and reflect on the techniques used to
introduce the characters and key ideas.
✦ Sit in a large semi-circle facing ▣ YouTube clip

the projected image. Watch http://www.youtube.com
the short film clip. What have /watch?v=C9GzipgQCJA
you noticed about the shots
in this clip? What sort of
landscape is it?
✦ In groups of four, you are The texts (taken from
going to develop a pages 57–58 of the script)
Commentary to accompany need to be prepared
these shots, describing what before the lesson, as do
can be seen out of the train stills from the film clip.
window. Try to include
112
metaphors in your
Commentary. Each group will
be allocated a slightly different Model how this could be
section and be given a still done by commentating
from the film as a guide. You on a short piece of the
will also be given some pieces film clip and reading out
of ‘text’ that would be found a poster that could be
inside the train, that you are displayed in the carriage.
going to introduce in to your
Commentary. Copies of the stills from
the film clip should be
✦ Using your still as a stimulus, placed round the room.
develop a Commentary
(spoken in first person in the
present tense) that describes
what you can see. At different
stages in your Commentary,
other members of the group
will interrupt by reading out
loud one of the texts found
within the carriage.
✦ Move in to a space with your
group next to a picture. You
will be given some time to
rehearse your Commentary in
your groups before the
process begins.
✦ Stand with your group in a Use the ‘frame forward’
large circle. When the music command at this stage to
fades, the first group will step control the shots
forward as the teacher freezes displayed.
the film, and provide the
Commentary until the music ♬ Music.
begins again. The next group ▣ Extract from the film
will then move forward. This clip.
113
will continue until all groups

have provided Commentaries
of the scene from the train
and verbalised the texts found
within the train carriage.
✦ When all the groups have
provided Commentaries, the
teacher will read the following
extract,
Extract 1 (page 65)
From Christopher: 1. There are

nineteen cows in the field.
to 7. The cows are mostly facing
uphill.
✦ Discuss how the use of commentary or verbalising texts

might be used within the play. Why?
✦ Discuss what Christopher’s description tells us about
him? What are the playwright’s aims here?
✦ What differences are created by the description that
includes metaphors and the description that Christopher
uses? How might the playwright develop this in the play?
✦ Discuss the front cover of the play and what it suggests
about the content and themes of the play.
114
3. Investigating the opening scenes and

structure
To investigate and analyse the text and reflect on the techniques
used to introduce the characters and key ideas.
✦ You will be working in a By exploring these

small group of between 2 and extracts, the pupils begin
5 students. Each group is to select and analyse the
given an extract from pages relevant information.
3–16 of the play. (See They also begin to take a
extracts below.) real interest in the
material and want to
know more. By Action
Extract 1 (Pages 3–4) Reading the extracts,
From The start of the play they have to consider
to Christopher looks at the some of the initial issues
Policeman. that directors and actors
need to address.
Extract 2 (Pages 4–6)
From I do not tell lies.
to And it can also mean ‘I think
what you just said was very
stupid’.

By working on the
From Could you take your laces different extracts in this
out of your shoes please, way, and sharing them
Christopher? with the class through
to Right. Lovely. Do you know Rolling Theatre, they are
your father’s phone number, essentially teaching each
Christopher? other different aspects of
115
Extract 4 (Pages 8–10) the script. It is, therefore,

not necessary to read
From Christopher turns to Ed. Ed
large amounts of the
looks at him.
script as a whole class.
to Do you understand what I’m This more active approach
saying? Yes. leads to engagement and
deeper levels of
understanding and
From The second main reason is analysis.
that people often talk using
metaphors.
to Yes, Christopher, you could
say that. You could very well
say that.

From Siobhan reads more from the
book.
to If I make her a get-well card
will you take it in for her
tomorrow?

From How are you today,
Christopher?
to I don’t know.

From Christopher, if your father’s
told you not to do something
maybe you shouldn’t do it.
to If you don’t go now I will call
the police again.
116
✦ In your group, produce a For each of the Still

short Digital Video Clip of Images, stop the pupils
the extract. To do this, you (by counting them down
begin with a Still Image, using the prime numbers
followed by an Action from 11, 7, 5, 3 and 2)
Reading of the script and then while they are
freeze at the end in a final Still ‘rehearsing’ and ask them
Image. You need to to show the Still Images.
investigate the script and Once they have all
search for clues about the frozen, ask them to
characters, story and setting in sharpen the pictures to
order to produce an accurate show the tension.
Action Reading of the extract.
✦ As a class, you produce your Position the groups

Digital Video Clips as Rolling round the room
Theatre. Music is used to according to the order of
guide you. All the groups the extracts.
freeze in their initial Still
♬ Play music at the start,
Image and then the first
end and in between each
group unfreezes, adds the
extract.
action and then freezes again.
When they freeze, the next
group knows that they can
begin. This continues with all Remind them of the
the groups producing their nature of Spect-acting
Digital Video Clip, until all and the importance of
groups have shown their freezing in their final Still
pieces. When you are not Images at the end of the
presenting your Digital Video Rolling Theatre.
Clip, you can become a Spect-
actor. This means that while
your body remains frozen in
the Still Image, your head can
turn to follow the action so
that you can see and hear the
117
work of the other groups. You

should remain in your place,
in order for all the groups to
freeze in their final Still Image
at the end.
✦ Reflecting on the scenes that To model this process,
you have just presented and you might provide
observed, think about the examples of different
structure of the play and the ways of developing a
devices the playwright has transition or scene such
used. How do you ensure as: Siobhan having a
smooth transitions between book that she is reading
and within the different from, the other groups
extracts when the action turning to face the action
moves from one scene to as it happens; Siobhan
another or where Siobhan’s being removed from each
reading provides a character’s group and placed in the
voice? What techniques could centre of the circle.
you add to ensure the
audience understand what is
happening. Discuss this
within your group and with
the groups either side of your
extract.
✦ As a class, re-run the Rolling ♬ Play music at the start,
Theatre adding the techniques end and in between each
and/or devices that you have extract.
discussed.
118
✦ How did the Rolling Theatre activity help you to analyse

and understand the significance of the scenes and explore
the methods used to introduce the audience to the
different characters and issues?
✦ How did the changes made to the Rolling Theatre help
your understanding of the scenes? What techniques do
you think the playwright, director and actors would have
used?
✦ What role does Siobhan have throughout these scenes
and how do you think this relates to the decisions the
playwright made when adapting the novel in to a play?
✦ Discuss what is understood by ‘Truth’ and how this is
explored in the opening scenes. What attitude does the
audience have towards the characters at this stage of the
play and what ideas do they expect to be explored
throughout the play? Why?
✦ Preparing for written analytical responses. Analyse how
the language devices and techniques are used to explore:
✦ Characters
✦ Relationships
✦ Tension
✦ A sense of voice
119
4. Placing the playwright and writer

To analyse the significance of characters’ conscience and sense
of responsibility in the play and the different techniques used by
the writer to explore the characters’ reactions and thoughts.
✦ Stand in a large circle or semi- ▣ It is helpful to project

circle with sight of the text the text and have
(projected or as individual individual copies of the
copies). As a class, read the extract for the students.
extract from the play, pages
30–32 (and all the stage
instructions).
from Why did you say ‘I think you
know why your father doesn’t
like Mr Shears very much’?
to Ed goes to Siobhan. He looks
at her holding the book. He
reaches his hand out for it.
After a short time she passes
it to him.
✦ Members of the class are Ensure that the sculpted

given the roles of Christopher, positions are supported
Siobhan and Ed. Using the with evidence from the
space in the centre of the text. Give value to the
circle, Sculpt them into the different positions offered
scene at this point. You will by explaining that the
need to consider their frozen director at different
positions, facial expressions points in the scene could
and gestures. Other members have used these positions.
of the class might adjust the
positions until a final sculpture
is agreed. The characters
freeze.
120
✦ The teacher will stand When asking about the

between two of the characters ‘space’, actually stand in
and indicate the space that space so the students
between them. Describe the can visualise it.
space between the characters.
You might suggest various
alternatives – ‘The space of
concern, fear, etc.’
✦ The teacher will choose a Props (to be used

student to take the role of the throughout the unit of
‘playwright’ (Simon Stephens) work). Four large pieces
and ask them to hold the of card with ‘Audience’,
‘Playwright’ card. Place the ‘Playwright’, ‘Writer’ and
Playwright in the Sculpted ‘Reader’ printed on them.
Image where you think he
should be. You might use
various criteria for this,
including the playwright’s Ask specific questions
distance from certain such as ‘Which character
characters, the empathy is the writer closest to in
created, the events, the terms of empathy or the
writer’s intention and what sympathy created?’ ‘What/
role Siobhan has. Justify your who is the playwright
choices, using evidence from trying to control most in
the text to support your ideas. this scene?’
Discuss the positioning as a
class. Throughout this
discussion, other students
should demonstrate the
position they feel is most It is important that the
appropriate by moving and students physically move
Placing the Playwright and the playwright, before
justifying their choice. justifying why.
121
✦ As a class, read the extract ▣ Project the text.

from the novel, which covers
the same scene. Page 94 to
page 95 and page 100 to
page 101.
from That night I wrote some Stop at appropriate places

more of my book and the throughout the reading
next morning I took it into to discuss any differences
school. between the novel and
play and the techniques
to So I would be feeling sad
used by the playwright
about something that isn’t
and novelist.
real and doesn’t exist. And
that would be stupid.
And ♬ Play music in between
the lines to structure the
from When I got home from
work and help develop
school Father was still out at
the sense of tension.
work . . .
to I had forgotten that I had left
my book lying on the kitchen
table because I was too
interested in the Blue Planet
video. This is what is called
Relaxing your Guard and it
is what you must never do if
you are a detective.
✦ Using the space in the It is important that you
centre of the circle, Sculpt select different students
the characters of Ed and to those Sculpted before.
Christopher into the scene
at this point in the novel.
122
✦ Another student is chosen to

be the ‘writer’ of the novel
(Mark Haddon). Position or
Place the Writer in the frozen
scene where you think he Discuss any differences in
should be. Discuss the the position of the writer
positioning as a class. of the novel compared
Throughout the discussion, with that of the
other students should playwright. What reasons
demonstrate the position they are there for this?
feel is most appropriate by
moving and Placing the
Writer and justifying their
choice.
✦ Return to the Sculpted scene
from the play and position it
in the circle alongside the Encourage the students
Sculpted scene from the to refer to specific details
novel. Discuss how the and techniques in both
positions of the Playwright the novel and the play to
and Writer differ/are similar? support their arguments.
Why?
✦ The characters and writers
freeze, while the teacher
stands behind the novelist,
looks at the Playwright and
introduces a provocative phrase
such as, ‘You should have just
let Ed discover the book. This It should be clear that
scene’s not right.’ there is no ‘right’ answer.
✦ You will be asked what you Students are developing
think the playwright would their understanding of
say, how Mark Haddon the the writers’ techniques
novelist might respond and and how key ideas are
what other comments the explored throughout
123
these scenes in the novel

writer or playwright might
and in the play.
make about this scene.
Discuss this with the person
standing next to you and as a
whole class.
✦ The teacher will explain that
the sculpted scenes (see
diagram) will freeze and the
‘writer’ and ‘playwright’ will

Writer
leave the scenes and begin a
journey in different directions
around the circle. As the
‘writer’ and the ‘playwright’ Sculpted scenes
take turns, taking one step at a
time around the circle, they
will hear their responses, Students
comments and explanations
about this scene that the
playwright and writer
themselves might think and
say.
✦ The teacher repeats the Modelling of this process
provocative phrase, ‘You will need to take place
should have just let Ed before the activity begins.
discover the book. This
scene’s not right.’ As the
playwright steps in front of a
student in the circle, the
student will respond to this
statement as if they were the
playwright. The writer will
then take a step around the
circle in the opposite direction
(see diagram) and the student
he is closest to makes a further
comment or asks a question.
124
This process continues as the

‘writer’ and ‘playwright’ make
their way round the circle and
the students speak the
thoughts, comments and
questions
✦ When the students in role as Due to the nature of this
the writer and playwright activity, it is important
meet at the opposite side of that the students who
the circle, the teacher will take on the roles of writer
again repeat the opening line and playwright are
and the ‘playwright’ and selected carefully.
‘writer’ will themselves
continue the conversation,
supported by the ideas and
comments they have been
given as they made their way
round the circle.
✦ The teacher will ask the
characters to freeze and will
read the following extract
from the play (pages 34–35).
Ed What is this?
Christopher looks at Ed.
Ed Jesus, Christopher,
how stupid are you? What
the hell did I tell you,
Christopher? . . .
Ed grabs Christopher’s arm.
Ed shakes Christopher hard with
both hands.
125
Christopher punches Ed
repeatedly in the face. He cuts
his mouth.
Ed hits the side of Christopher’s
head.
Christopher falls unconscious
for a few seconds.
Ed stands above him. He is
still holding the book.
✦ Read the comments by
Simon Stephens and Mark
Haddon about their roles as
writers and their views on
this scene. As a class, discuss
whether the position of the
writers or their responses
would now change. Why?
Comments from Mark Haddon

The novel is set inside Christopher’s head. We see the
world around him but we see it only through his eyes. The
irony is that we always understand that world better than
he does. We understand all the clues he sees and misreads
(in this scene, for example, we know exactly why his father
doesn’t like Mr Shears very much). He is an unreliable
narrator. But he is reliably unreliable. We very quickly
learn to decode what he’s telling us. We are always one
step ahead.
Drama, however, is always in the third person. We never
truly get inside a character’s head. We hear their words
and look at their body and have to work out what they are
126
thinking and feeling. And this problem was always going

to be a difficult one for anyone adapting the play for
the stage – how to turn a first-person narrative into a
third-person script, how to tell the story from outside
Christopher’s head without losing something really
important about his peculiar view of the world from inside it.
In the play we don’t get to play the game of putting
together a picture of Christopher’s world using only the
clues he gives us. On the other hand the characters we see
in the novel only through Christopher’s eyes are suddenly
right there in front of us, as real as Christopher himself.
Their words, their actions, their feelings now have equal
weight. They affect us directly.
The big emotional turning point in the centre of the novel
is when Christopher discovers his mother’s letters. This is
when his view of the world is shattered. The book that he
is writing matters less. It is mostly a way for us to
eavesdrop on his thoughts, for Siobhan to eavesdrop on
his thoughts and, ultimately, for his father to eavesdrop
on his thoughts.
On stage this is reversed and the book becomes a very
dangerous object. When Christopher discovers the letters
we have to imagine his pain, but when Ed reads the book
we know that something awful is going to happen and that
we are about to watch two people badly hurting one
another.
Should Ed take the book from Siobhan’s hands as in
Simon’s script? It’s a moment which dramatises an idea.
It’s metaphorical. Christopher would never put something
like that in a play. After all, it didn’t happen! But whose
play are we watching? Is it Christopher’s or Simon’s?
Come to think of it, whose novel were we reading,
Christopher’s or mine?
127
Comments from Simon Stephens

Mark’s book is a book about writing a book. When it came
to dramatising it I realised that there was something
potentially very dramatic about the actual book that
Christopher, the imaginary character Mark created, was
writing. His book works a bit like a diary. People who keep
diaries often keep them secret. They are hot property. To
have them discovered can be embarrassing or exposing or
hurtful. But certainly it can be dramatic. I wanted to create
that drama around the book.
It struck me that two other people apart from Christopher
read his book. These are Siobhan and Ed. And their
reading of the book is more dramatic than Christopher’s
because they understand things he doesn’t. Siobhan
understands the nature of betrayal and affairs in marriages.
Ed understands that Christopher is starting to discover
things not just about the murder of Wellington but about
the secrets he’s kept from his son.
I realised that Siobhan would want to protect Christopher
from the consequences of Ed finding the book. At that
moment she would understand what Christopher couldn’t
but the audience does. There is a dramatic irony to any
moment in a play where audiences understand more than
characters do, that is very satisfying. She would want to
protect him. But also she would have to defer to Ed. She
is, importantly, not Christopher’s parent. Teachers can’t
replace parents. No matter how much she wants to protect
Christopher she can’t overrule Ed.
I wanted to physicalise this moment.
The moment that Ed discovers the book is one of my
favourite moments in the play. It raises the question
‘Where are we?’ And ‘When are we?’ Are we in
Christopher’s classroom? Are we on the beach at Polperro?
Are we at home with Ed discovering the book? This
128
multiplicity of perspective is very typical of Mark’s writing

and very typical of the way Christopher thinks. I wanted to
find a stage language that dramatised that.
As it happens in the original production at the National
the director Marianne Elliot chose not to have Ed take the
book from Siobhan but rather just to find it.
Clearly she agreed with the teacher!
✦ How does the playwright explore the tension in this

scene, through specific linguistic and dramatic devices?
✦ Detailed analysis of these extracts from the novel and
play, together with the writers’ comments, enables an
exploration of the different roles the writers, director and
actors play in interpreting the script and presenting ideas,
tensions and relationships.
✦ Compare the different arguments presented to explore
writers’ ideas and perspectives. Explain and evaluate how
the writer and playwright use linguistic, grammatical,
structural and presentational features to achieve effects
and engage and influence the reader/audience.
✦ Analyse what dramatic and literary techniques are used to
present perspective, a sense of voice and/or a character’s
conscience/inner thoughts.
✦ How have the drama activities helped to develop these
analytical skills?
129
5. Revealing and exploring ‘truths’

To explore the tension in the play and investigate and analyse
the text and question critically the ideas and issues introduced.
✦ As a class, read the extract ▣ Project the text.

from the play when
Christopher is searching for
his book (pages 37 and 38). Props – shirt box,
letters, other items from
✦ Sculpt the scene in Ed’s
the room.
bedroom at the point when
Christopher says: ▣ Project the text.
It was an envelope addressed to
me and it was lying under my
book in the shirt box with some
other envelopes. I picked it up. Ask the students to place
the props first to establish
✦ Sculpt Christopher into the a setting before sculpting
scene at this point. Read on: the character in to the
from Christopher finds the envelope scene.
to I only know three people
who do little circles instead
of dots over the letter i. And
one of them is Siobhan. And ▣ It is helpful to project
one of them was Mr Loxley the text.
who used to teach at the
school. And one of them was
Mother.
✦ The teacher will hold up the Prop – envelope with
envelope and ask what you the address written as
think would be inside. described.
Suggest what written text you
think would be inside and, as
130
a whole class, discuss other

possibilities.
✦ In groups of four, create the
Prop – blank pieces of
text that could appear in the
paper and pens.
envelope. It is important that
you create two identical At this stage it is useful to
versions of this piece of text. discuss as a whole class
You will need to think about what is known about
what you know about the play Christopher’s mother
so far and the characters that and the events that might
are involved. have taken place.
✦ When you have completed
the piece of text, place it in an
envelope. Set up the Sculpted
Scene again and, one at a
time, place the envelopes into Prop – envelopes.
the shirt box. Keep the other These could be colour-
copy of the text, as you will be coded or numbered to
reading it out later when the identify which group they
scene is ‘brought to life’. You belong to.
will need to think about how
it might be read. What tone
should be used? Should there ♬ Play music as the
be pauses? envelopes are being
✦ You continue to work in the placed.
same group. Each group is
given an extract from one of
the letters in the play:
Extract 1 (Pages 43–44) Colour-coding and

From 451c Chapter Road, London numbering the extracts
ensures that you can
to I liked remembering that a
maintain the chronological
lot.
order throughout the
activity.
131

From Dear Christopher. I said I
wanted to explain to you
to and I tried to pick you up and
move you.
Extract 3 (Page 45)

From And everyone turned round
to see what was going on
to I knew you wouldn’t go on
the bus again.
Extract 4 (Page 45)

From And I remember that night I
just cried
to And that was when I started
spending lots of time with
Roger.
Extract 5 (Page 46)

From And that was when I started
spending lots of time with
Roger.
to and you threw it and it hit
my foot and broke my toes.

From And afterwards at home your
father and I had a huge
argument.
to And so I said yes.
Extract 7 (Page 47)

From And I meant to say goodbye.
132
to I thought I was doing the

best for all of us.
Extract 8 (Page 47)

From I used to have dreams that
everything would get
better.
to He said that if you
managed it you were a
genius.
Now that they are familiar
✦ In your group, produce a with this technique,
short Digital Video Clip encourage them to
that brings the scene(s) develop the roles and the
described in the letter to use of tension in the Still
life. To do this, you begin Images and acted scenes.
with a Still Image, followed
by a short acted scene of the
events/memories described
in the letter, with speech
and movement, and then
freeze at the end in a final You will need to provide
Still Image. enough time for the
groups to rehearse their
✦ As a class, you will now reading of their own
produce the readings of the crafted text and the
letters and the Digital Video Digital Video Clips of
Clips of the letters from the extracts from the scripted
script as Rolling Theatre. letters.
✦ Set up the sculpted character

of Christopher with the
shirt box in the centre of the
circle. All the groups freeze
in their initial Still Image. This needs to be modelled
The student in role as before the process begins.
133
Christopher will ‘come to

life’, pick up the first letter
and then freeze. One
member of the first group,
that placed this particular
♬ Play music at the start,
piece of text, will step out of
end and in between each
the Still Image and read it
extract.
out, using the retained copy.
S/he will then step back in to
the Still Image and the group
‘come to life’, adding the
action that depicts the scene
from their particular letter in
It is important that you
the playscript and then freeze
select the right student
again. When they freeze, the
to maintain the role of
student in role as Christopher
Christopher. A Teaching
will pick up the next letter
Assistant or the teacher
from the box and the next
can also take on this role.
group knows that they can
begin. This continues with all
the groups producing their
readings of their own text and
the Digital Video Clips of the
letters in the playscript, until
all groups have shown their
pieces. When you are not
presenting your Digital Video
Clip, you can become a
Spect-actor. You should
remain in your place, in order
for all the groups to freeze in
their final Still Image at the
end.
✦ The teacher will pick up all

the letters in the shirt box, tie
them into a bundle with a
134
piece of string and return them

to the box. S/he will then read
the following extract from the
play:
Christopher’s thrashing has

exhausted him. He has been sick.
He lies still for a while, wrapped
in a ball. The box of his mother’s Prop – string.
letters is next to him.
Ed Christopher?
Christopher?
Ed Christopher, what the
hell are you doing?
✦ Analyse the use of dramatic devices to build tension and

develop the audience’s understanding of the characters’
motivations.
✦ Discuss and model how the skills demonstrated both
in and out of role could be transferred to analytical
responses about the writer’s techniques and the effect of
the text on the reader.
✦ If the playwright and audience were positioned in this
scene at moments of tension or revelation, where would
they be?
135
6. Exploring and analysing text and truths

To analyse how promises, lies, truths and facts become key
features of the text and how the playwright encourages the
audience to explore these.
✦ Working in a small group of

between 2 and 5 students
you will be given an extract
from the play that explores
lies, promises and truth.
From Did you mean to hit the By working on the
policeman? different extracts in this
to Do you understand what I’m way, and sharing them
saying? with the class through
Rolling Theatre, they are
Extract 2 (Pages 23–24) essentially teaching each
other different aspects of
From I have just had a phone call
the script. It is, therefore,
from Mrs Shears.
not necessary to read large
to And you know what it means amounts of the script as a
when I make you promise. whole class. This more
Extract 3 (Pages 49–50) active approach leads to
engagement and deeper
From How are you feeling? Can I levels of understanding
get you anything? and analysis.
to It’s going to be all right.
Honestly. Trust me.
Extract 4 (Pages 54–55) These extracts should

From Christopher, what on earth enable students to apply
has happened to you? their knowledge of the
136
to And I’m sure that there’s been playwright’s techniques

a dreadful misunderstanding. and explore how tension
and dramatic impact can
Extract 5 (Page 63) be developed.
From Christopher. Caught you.
Just in time.
to I think you’ve done enough
adventuring for one day.

From You’re very brave.
to It’s not your fault.

From Will you let him take me
away?
to He told Christopher I was
dead.
Extract 8 (Page 83)

From It’s OK, Christopher, I won’t
let him do anything. You’re
all right.
to You go back to sleep now.
Everything is going to be all
right. I promise.
Extract 9 (Page 90–91)

From You think you’re so bloody
clever, don’t you?
to We’re going home.
137
✦ In your group, produce a For each of the Still

Digital Video Clip of the Images, stop the pupils
extract. (See Activity 3.) (by counting them down
in prime numbers from
✦ As a class, you produce your 11, 7, 5, 3 to 2) while
Digital Video Clips as they are ‘rehearsing’ and
Rolling Theatre. Music is ask them to show the Still
used to guide you. All the Images. Once they have
groups freeze in their initial all frozen, ask them to
Still Image. One member of sharpen the pictures to
the first group will collect show the tension.
from the centre of the circle
the bundle of letters used in
the previous exercise and
place the bundle where they Remind them of the
feel it is most appropriate in nature of Spect-acting
their Still Image. Then the and the importance of
first group ‘comes to life’, freezing in their final Still
adds the action and then Images at the end of the
freezes again. When they Rolling Theatre.
freeze, the next group
knows that they can begin
by collecting the bundle of Each group will need to
letters, placing it in their Still decide who will collect
Image and ‘coming to life’. the bundle of letters and
This continues with all the where they are to place it
groups collecting and in the first Still Image.
placing the bundle of letters
and producing their Digital ♬ Use bongo drums, as
Video Clips, until all groups referenced in the text,
have shown their pieces. loudly at the start, end and
When you are not presenting in between each extract
your Digital Video Clip, you and quietly during the
can become a Spect-actor. extracts. Try to create the
rhythm of a heartbeat
and/or train throughout
with the drums.
138
✦ Reflecting on the extract

that you have just presented,
decide as a group, what is
the most significant line in
your extract. Select the line
and copy it on to a piece
of card. Produce two Still To model the process,
Images to accompany two examples of different
readings of the line. The first lines and their subtext
Still Image should be a literal should be discussed and
interpretation of the line as it how these could be
appears in the play. The presented through Still
second Still Image should Images.
provide a symbolic
interpretation or depiction
of the subtext of the line.
You will need to also
consider where the bundle
of letters will be placed in
each of the Still Images.
✦ All the groups will hold their

first Still Image. The first
group places the letters in
their Still Image and then
says the line from the
extract, thinking carefully ♬ Use bongo drums
how they will do this. Once drums, as described
they have finished, the next above, throughout the
group will know they can process.
begin, collecting and placing
the letters and saying the
line. This process will
continue until all the groups
have held the Still Images
and spoken the lines. All the
groups will then merge into
139
their ‘subtext’ Still Images

and the Rolling Theatre
process will be repeated. You
will need to consider how
the line could be said
differently this time to
reveal/emphasise more of
the subtext?
✦ Once the Rolling Theatre is All students need to hold

complete, the teacher will take their Still Images at the
the letters from the last Still end. Music can be played
Image, undo the string and to assist with this.
scatter the letters in the centre
of the circle while saying
A dead dog lies in the middle
of the stage. A large garden
fork is sticking out of its side.
Christopher Boone, fifteen
years old, stands on one side
of it. His forty-two-year-old
neighbour Mrs Shears stands
on the other.
They stand for a while
without saying anything. The
rest of the company watch,
waiting to see who is going to
dare to speak first.
140
✦ Discuss how this activity has helped you to analyse the

subtexts of the play. What techniques have been used by
the playwright to build tension in these scenes and
suggest there are hidden truths and thoughts that the
audience needs to understand?
✦ Analyse the use of dramatic devices to build tension
and layers of meaning, which develop the audience’s
understanding.
✦ Discuss the importance of the playwright’s use of scripted
questions throughout the play in developing the
narrative, characters and perspective. How does this
impact on the audience?
✦ Discuss how the skills demonstrated both in and out of
role could be transferred to analytical responses about the
writer’s techniques and the effect on the audience.
✦ Analyse how the language devices and techniques are
used to explore:
✦ Characters
✦ Relationships
✦ Power
✦ A sense of voice
✦ Tension
141
7. Playwroughting
To explore the dramatic techniques and language choices used
by the playwright in a specific scene.
✦ As a class, read the following ▣ Before beginning this,

extracts from page 68 and activity discuss the origin
pages 72–74 of the word playwright as
described by Simon
Stephens in a Guardian
From Christopher kneels down. interview.
to A Ticket Collector stops
‘Stephens thinks he has
him.
gained much from
And adapting the novel.
“Having to put text on
From Are you for real? stage is good exercise. I
to Count the trains. Figure it just think it made me a
out. Get the rhythm right. better writer: it nourished
me intellectually.” He
doesn’t think of himself
as a writer, he says, but a
“wroughter: the ‘wright’
in playwright comes from
to wrought rather than
to write”. Writing
adaptations is a better
means of honing his craft
than writing for TV or
film would be, he argues.
And these ideas of
nourishment and honing
are becoming more
important to him as he
gets older. It is helpful to
project the text and have
142
individual copies of the

texts for the students.’
✦ Working in groups of 4 to 6 The numbers in the class

pupils, you will be given a will determine the size of
section of the play taken from the extracts. The extracts
the extracts you have just are deliberately short.
read.
✦ Choose who will take on the
role of each character in the
extract. In addition, one
student will represent the
playwright.
✦ You will produce a Digital You might suggest that
Video Clip of your extract but the actors clap their
this time you will freeze the hands to distinguish the
action at two significant points. moments when the
These should be identified as Action Reading needs to
moments when the actors need freeze.
to understand or know
something that the playwright
has to answer or explain.
✦ As you Action Read the
extract, the playwright stands
at the side of the action. When
the Action is frozen, the ‘actor’
who needs to ask the question
As the groups are working
steps forward and completes
on these extracts,
the sentence, ‘As you are the
questions and responses,
playwright I need to ask . . . ’
ensure that you go round
✦ The student representing the the class, providing
playwright will then step advice and discussing the
forward and respond by dramatic techniques and
answering the question and/or writer’s aims.
explaining the technique used.
143
✦ Continue this process until the

extract is complete and your
group has frozen two times
and asked/answered two
questions.
✦ All the students who have
represented the playwright in
their groups now form a new
At this stage, you will
group in the centre of the
probably work with the
circle, to represent the
‘Playwright’ group to
Playwright communally as one
ensure that they are
group. In the centre of this
confident about discussing
new group will be placed a
and responding to the
card with Playwright clearly
questions. You may also
printed on it. While the groups
have deliberately selected
of actors continue to rehearse
the students who take on
their Action Readings, frozen
this collective role.
moments and questions, the
‘Playwright’ group discuss the
questions they have been
asked and share ideas on how
to best answer them.
✦ As a class, produce your
Digital Video Clips as Rolling
Theatre. All the groups freeze
in their initial Still Image and The teacher can intervene
then the first group ‘comes to at this stage to assist with
life’ and begins their Action the playwright group’s
Reading. At the first significant responses if necessary.
moment, they freeze, the actor
steps forward and completes
the sentence, ‘As you are the
playwright I need to ask . . . ’
so that everyone in the class
can hear.
144
✦ The ‘Playwrights’ discuss

(loudly enough for everyone
to hear) the question/issue, as
if considering the idea within
the playwright’s head, and
then respond. The Action
Reading continues until the
next significant moment when
the process is repeated. When
the first group has completed
their Digital Video Clip and
freezes, the next group knows
that they can begin. This
process continues with all the
groups producing their
Digital Video Clips, asking the
questions and hearing the
‘Playwright’ group’s thoughts
and responses, until all groups
have shown their pieces and all
the questions have been
discussed.
✦ Discuss, and evidence, the dramatic techniques and

theatrical devices identified above. How do these devices
influence our understanding of the narrative, characters
and ideas? Does this differ from the influences that the
novelist has, through the techniques he uses?
145
8. Distancing the audience

To develop an understanding of alienation techniques used by
the playwright and analyse the effect on the audience.
✦ Remaining in the groups used ▣ It is helpful to project

for the last activity, stand in a the text
large circle with sight of the
projected text. Each group has
been given a large card with the
word ‘Audience’ printed on it.
Read the opening of the extract Props – several large
from pages 96 and 97 where pieces of card with
Christopher is sitting his A Level Audience printed on
Exam, them.
Christopher I can see the

questions but I can’t read the
questions because when I look
at the words they all seem
confused and the wrong way
round and mixed up to me.
Rev Peters Right.
Christopher What does
this question say?
Rev Peters Christopher,
I’m afraid I can’t help you
like that. I’m not allowed to.
✦ Sculpt the characters of
Christopher and Rev Peters in Props – exam paper.
to the scene at this point in the
play.
146
✦ As a group, decide where to

Place the Audience and
position your card in the agreed
place. You need to consider Props – several large
which character the audience pieces of card with
empathises with, whose eyes Audience printed on
they might be looking through, them.
how close they feel to the
situation etc. The teacher will
ask you to justify your Use targeted questioning
positioning of the audience to explore the groups’
using evidence from the text. positioning of the
audience and their
✦ The sculpted characters justification. Encourage
continue to Action Read the them to use specific
extract, pausing after each evidence from the text to
speech, so that the groups can support their comments.
move their ‘Audience’ cards
and justify the positions that
they take up.
✦ When Siobhan speaks, she will At this stage, you might
need to be sculpted into or near want to discuss in more
the scene and when she says the detail the Brechtian idea
following line you will need to of alienation, where the
think carefully about what playwright, through a
impact this has on the variety of techniques,
positioning of the audience and deliberately keeps the
why. audience conscious of the
Christopher, people won’t fact that it is a theatrical
want to hear about the answer performance. Discuss why
to a maths question in a play. a playwright might want
the audience to respond
✦ Continue the process of the to what they are
sculpted characters Action watching on stage in a
Reading and freezing after each distanced, objective way.
speech so that the Audience can
be Placed and the positioning
147
discussed. This continues until

the speech,
Rev Peters I’ll have a quick
word with the big man for
you. And let’s see what
happens, shall we?
✦ The sculpted characters freeze
and the teacher reads the
comment from Mark Haddon.
‘Christopher is an outsider, and
novelists are drawn to outsiders of Discuss this quotation
all kinds because they grant us a with the class.
privileged position from which we
are able to look back at ourselves.’
✦ Discuss the dramatic techniques and theatrical devices

used to control the audience’s relationship with the
characters on stage. How do these devices influence our
understanding of the narrative, characters and ideas? Does
this differ from the influences that the novelist has,
through the techniques he used?
✦ When placing the audience are you influenced by the
techniques the playwright uses and/or by your own
experiences in life and your ability to relate to particular
characters and/or ideas? How might this process affect
the way we approach and understood Simon Stephens’
adaptation of the novel?
148
9. Truth and lies

To re-examine the significance of the quotations used in the
first activity.
✦ Before this last activity, you Props – quotations,

will need to think carefully envelopes, recorded ideas.
about all the activities you have
been involved in and re-read
the quotations around the
room and the evidence and
recorded ideas placed in
envelopes.
✦ As a class, sit in a large semi- ‘The word metaphor
circle facing the projected means carrying something
quotations and discuss what from one place to
they now mean and what another and it is when
significance they have. you describe something
✦ Look at the projected image of by using a word for
a Venn diagram and discuss something that it isn’t’
which words or ideas and ‘I don’t like acting
suggested by either quotation because it is pretending
could now be placed in the that something is real
central overlap area in the when it is not really real at
Venn diagram? Why? all so it is like a kind of
✦ The teacher will place two lie’.
large hoops on the floor to
create a new Venn diagram
and hand out individual pieces
of card. After thinking about ▣ Project the quotations.
all the activities and techniques
Props – pieces of card,
explored, write a quotation or
idea, on the piece of card, that large hoops/circles of
you feel is particularly string to create a Venn
significant to the play. diagram on the floor.
149
✦ As a class, sit in a large circle

around with the Venn diagram
▣ Project a Venn
in the centre. The teacher
diagram.
labels the Venn diagram as
Truth and Lies. Working
round the circle one at a time,
place your quotation or idea in
the Venn diagram where you
feel it is best placed, reading it
aloud as you do so.
✦ Once all the cards have been
placed, the teacher will read,
Christopher No. I don’t ▣ Project the text.
like acting because it is
pretending that something is
real when it is not really real
at all so it is like a kind of lie.
Siobhan But people like

stories, Christopher. Some
people find things which are
kind of true in things which
are made up.
150
Dog in Night_TeachingNotes7.qd:Meth Coll Prelims 7/3/13 14:43 Page 153
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(Methuen Drama) Moore, Ruth - Travers, Martin - Bunyan, Paul - Breslin, Theresa - The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time - The Play-Bloomsbury Academic (2013)

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Curious Incident Prelims:Meth B-format 7/1/13 20:32 Page i

The Curious Incident of the

Other titles available in Methuen Drama’s Critical Scripts series

Theresa Breslin’s Divided City

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol

Keith Gray’s Ostrich Boys

Cormac McCarthy’s The Road

Willy Russell’s Our Day Out – The Musical

The Curious Incident of the

Critical Scripts Series Editors

The Curious Incident of the

All actors remain on stage unless prescribed otherwise.

4 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Siobhan My name is Christopher John Francis Boone. I

Christopher I’m fifteen years and three months and

6 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

The Policeman stares at Christopher. For a while the two look at

Duty Sergeant Jolly good.

8 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Duty Sergeant Do you have any family, Christopher?

10 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Duty Sergeant Did you kill the dog, Christopher?

Voice Four We had a real pig of a day.

12 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Christopher Yes, I was listening to what you were saying

sure how long he would be. He said that if I needed

14 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

If I make her a get-well card will you take it in for her

Christopher Because when people tell you what to do it is

16 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Mrs Shears Christopher, I really don’t think I want to see

18 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Mr Thompson Well, I was in Colchester on Thursday so

Mrs Alexander I’m afraid you’re going to have to say that

20 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Mrs Alexander I’m afraid marzipan is yellow too.

22 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Mrs Gascoyne If Christopher sits an A-Level then he

24 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Ed Well, she’s not a friend any more.

Christopher So I would have to be an astronaut on my

26 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Siobhan Not all murders are solved, Christopher. Not all

28 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

nothing wrong with having a chat. Having a chat is just

Mrs Alexander Not really, no. I mean I knew him well

30 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Christopher But did he give her stress so that she died of a

32 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Ed And what have you been up to, young man?

He finds the place she was at.

34 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Christopher And she jumped backwards and disappeared

killed that bloody dog. And not to go trespassing on other

36 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

He comes back without the book. He looks at Christopher for a

Christopher No. Because I need to find my book.

38 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

I started by looking under the bed.

Judy Christopher Boone, 36 Randolph Street,

40 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Siobhan I went up to my room. And when I was in the

Christopher I’m reading a letter.