The National Theatre have announced the dates and venues for the 2017 tour of its multi-award-winning production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, adapted from Mark Haddon’s best-selling book by Simon Stephens and directed by Marianne Elliott. Curious Incident arrives at Birmingham Hippodrome 4 – 8 July 2017.

Curious Incident begins this second major tour of the UK and Ireland at The Lowry in Salford in January 2017, where it began and finished its first phenomenally successful tour which was seen by almost 400,000 people nationwide.

After Salford, Curious Incident continues its journey around the UK and Ireland, touring to: Aylesbury, Edinburgh, Leeds, Canterbury, Bath, Southampton, Nottingham, Belfast, Dublin, Cardiff, Oxford, Bristol, Plymouth, Birmingham, Liverpool, Bradford, Glasgow, and finishing in Milton Keynes on 16 September 2017. (Further dates and venues to be announced).

National Theatre producer Kash Bennett said: ‘We were overwhelmed by the enthusiastic reception from audiences around the UK and Ireland when we toured The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time in 2014-15, and are delighted to take this beautiful and inventive show to new venues and make a return visits to others next year.’

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time received seven Olivier Awards in 2013, including Best New Play, Best Director, Best Design, Best Lighting Design and Best Sound Design and five Tony Awards on Broadway including Best Play. Curious Incident continues to play to packed houses at the Gielgud Theatre in London’s West End, with bookings recently extended to the end of January 2017. A Broadway production continues its acclaimed run to 4 September 2016, at the Barrymore Theatre and a new US Tour officially opens in October 2016 at the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC, after an exclusive tour launch engagement in Rochester, NY.

The production is designed by Bunny Christie, with lighting by Paule Constable, video design by Finn Ross, movement by Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett for Frantic Assembly, music by Adrian Sutton and sound by Ian Dickinson for Autograph.

Director Marianne Elliott also co-directed the National Theatre’s record-breaking production of War Horse which will be touring from September 2017.

The show tells the story of Christopher Boone, who is fifteen years old. He stands beside Mrs Shears’ dead dog, which has been speared with a garden fork, it is seven minutes after midnight and Christopher is under suspicion. He records each fact in a book he is writing to solve the mystery of who murdered Wellington. He has an extraordinary brain, and is exceptional at maths while ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. He has never ventured alone beyond the end of his road, he detests being touched and distrusts strangers. But his detective work, forbidden by his father, takes him on a frightening journey that upturns his world.

Marianne Elliott is an Associate Director of the National Theatre where her productions have included: Husbands and Sons (at the NT’s Dorfman Theatre and the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester), War Horse (co-directed with Tom Morris), The Light Princess, Port, Season’s Greetings, All’s Well that Ends Well, Harper Regan, Saint Joan (Olivier Award for Best Revival, South Bank Show Award for Theatre), and Pillars of the Community (Evening Standard Award for Best Director). Marianne was consultant director on The Elephantom for the National Theatre and also directed Sweet Bird of Youth for the Old Vic with Kim Cattrall. Marianne’s next show for the National Theatre is Angels in America which begins rehearsals in January 2017.

Mark Haddon is an author, illustrator and screenwriter who has written fifteen books for children and won two BAFTAs. His bestselling novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, was published simultaneously by Jonathan Cape and David Fickling in 2003. It won seventeen literary prizes, including the Whitbread Award. His poetry collection, The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea, was published by Picador in 2005, and his last novel, The Red House, was published by Jonathan Cape in 2012. His latest book is The Pier Falls, a collection of stories. He lives in Oxford.

Simon Stephens’ new translation of The Threepenny Opera, directed by Rufus Norris with Rory Kinnear as Macheath will open at the NT’s Olivier Theatre on 18 May 2016. His other plays for the National Theatre include: Port (originally produced at the Royal Exchange and directed by Marianne Elliott) at the National Theatre’s Lyttelton Theatre , Harper Regan and On the Shore of the Wide World (co-production with Royal Exchange, Manchester: Olivier Award for Best New Play). His many other plays include Carmen Disruption, Heisenberg, Birdland, Blindsided, Three Kingdoms, Wastwater, Punk Rock, Seawall, Pornography, Country Music, Christmas and Herons; A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky (co-written with Robert Holman and David Eldridge); an adaptation of Jon Fosse’s I Am the Wind and Motortown. His version of A Doll’s House for the Young Vic transferred to the West End and then New York in 2014. Simon is an Associate at the Lyric, Hammersmith and the Royal Court Theatre.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time runs at Birmingham Hippodrome from Tuesday 4 – Saturday 8 July 2017. Tickets from £20* can be booked on 0844 338 5000† or from birminghamhippodrome.com.

A relaxed performance will take place on Monday 3 July at 7.30pm. Please call Ticket Sales to book. This performance cannot be booked online.

For further information please contact:
Helen Annetts at Birmingham Hippodrome on 07779 026720 or helenannetts@birminghamhippodrome.com

Nada Zakula at the National Theatre on 020 7452 3046 (+447831 766086) or nzakula@nationaltheatre.org.uk

*Prices and discounts subject to change, 5% transaction charge applies (excluding cash sales in person), postage from £1.
† 0844 calls cost 4.5p plus your phone company’s access charge.

Notes to Editors:

Production images
Production images for the 2014/15 production are available from HERE

Birmingham Hippodrome is an independent, not-for-profit, registered charity welcoming an average 500,000 visits annually making it the most popular single auditorium in the UK. Birmingham Royal Ballet and DanceXchange are resident partners; the theatre presents all of Welsh National Opera’s repertoire, co-produces the award-winning International Dance Festival and welcomes the best in international dance, major touring dramas, and West End musicals. Home to the world’s biggest Pantomime it also houses the 200-seat Patrick Centre, with extensive events facilities, and its own restaurant.

As a charity with no public revenue funding, Birmingham Hippodrome receives generous support from the business community through sponsorship and other partnerships; from individuals through donations and memberships; and from grant-making Trusts for special programming and infrastructure projects. It is a major employer and plays a leading role in the Southside Business Improvement District.

Through Hippodrome CREATIVE we deliver successful projects in education and the wider community. With numerous supportive partners we have recently co-produced and produced new events including Minimum Monument, The Voyage, Summer in Southside, About Town, Blitz, the 4 Squares Weekender and Birmingham Weekender (celebrating the opening of New Street and Grand Central alongside the Rugby World Cup). Furious Folly will be presented this summer in Sutton Park co-commissioned by 14-18 NOW for the World War One commemorations.

Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre Trust Ltd, Charity No. 510842.
Hurst Street, Southside, Birmingham B5 4TB.
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