Breaking down how Atul Kumar re-imagined Mark Haddon’s classic novel for Indian audience

New Delhi

Theatre, TV and films personality Atul Kumar is excited to kick off the new year with a play that is close to his heart. He is kicking things off with an adaptation of Mark Haddon’s popular novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, adapted by Simon Stephens—a production that’s won both Olivier and Tony Awards.

Director Atul Kumar recently revived this literary piece on stage alongwith fellow cast members Jaimini Pathak, Dheer Hir, Dilnaz Irani, Shivani Tanksale, Salone Mehta, Harssh Singh, Vidushi Chadha and Abhay Kaul. 

From London to Mumbai in December and to New Delhi in January 2025, Atul promises to woo audiences with his vision. Here is the edited excerpts of our chat in which we discuss why he picked this story for stage:

Q: This is your third production with Aadyam Theatre after Detective 9-2-11 and Baaghi Albele. What made you choose The Curious Incident for this season.

A: I had the book with me much before I read the play. My 17-year-old daughter gave it to me but I got a chance to read it after I came across the play first. I fell in love with the play the first time I got to know Christopher’s story. Before that I had very little knowledge about Asperger's Syndrome and Autism Spectrum and other kinds of neurodivergence but the story is not just about that. It is really about human resolve and achievement against all odds. That is what actually drew me towards doing it and we didn't really want to do it in Hindi.

We wanted to maintain it in English and it made complete sense to base it either in South Bombay or in Bandra. We didn't really have to change names either, they just completely fitted with the people who live in our Bandra community. So there you are.

Q: Theatre in India has such rich traditions, yet we rarely see stories about neurodivergent characters. What convinced you and Aadyam to back this particular story, and what discoveries did you make while working on such sensitive material?

A: I don't know about Aadyam but I can talk about how important this subject is to me. I've had people in my family, friends, and neighborhood where any sort of neurodivergence was either hidden, was shamed or it was ignored. Often parents and teachers used to be in denial that a child growing up is discovered to have any kind of divergence from what our understanding of normalcy is. To the extent that some of these children grew up to become complete misfits and none of their issues were ever addressed, accepted or understood. 

This is something I grew up with and to tell you the truth, I also slowly grew up to become a part of not recognising these differences and not valuing these differences. Things have changed thankfully with psychotherapy coming in and education systems getting an overhaul. So this was very personal for me. I felt like I wanted to address the idea of difference and how one person is different from the other and why there is no space in our society for those differences and those differences could be on any level. 

I really hope that this and many other subjects are picked up in theater. I know that a lot of this is addressed through literature, poetry, even through visual arts and in some sense by cinema too but it’s not so much in theater.

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Q: I notice you've chosen to keep all eight actors on stage throughout, switching between various characters. What was the thought behind that?

A: Actually, the script is written in such a way that all the actors are on stage. It's only eight people and they take on more than 26 to 30 characters and there are quick changes – like just putting on a hat and somebody becomes a cop, removing the hat and putting on a wig and you become someone else – because there are quick changes and quick entries and exits of different characters. So, there was no way that the writer could have justified actors going out. 

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time will premiere in Delhi in January 2025 on dates, January 11 and 12 at the Kamani auditorium.