London

Many friends who want to come and see this tour ask: "Do you come anywhere near London?" Simply, no. Not really. The reason for this is that there's already a production of this in London. It's been performing at the Gielgud Theatre since July 2014; before that, at the Apollo Theatre; and not forgetting the original run at the National Theatre in 2012.

The last few weeks have been quite eventful for Curious Incident. We played to its largest audience so far (1,780) in Edinburgh last Saturday; on Broadway, it's been nominated for some 20 awards (including 6 Tonys, 6 Drama Desk awards and 6 Outer Critics' Circle awards: of those last 6, it's already won 5); a US tour has been announced, commencing in October 2016; and this week saw the first day of rehearsals for the new West End cast, set to run from June 2015 until the following summer.

 

Photo: Alex Rumford

My thoughts are with the new London cast at the moment. This week, they'll be learning to use muscles they didn't know they had; they'll be discovering how just a few people can lift someone above their heads; they'll be preparing themselves for the fact that this will be their new routine, eight times a week, for a year.

A friend who was in the original production said, when I told her that I was doing this, that it was the best job in the world. It's certainly one of the most rewarding ones that I've experienced. I'm sure the new West End cast will come to feel the same way. I wish them the very best.