<P> The play involves a significant reworking of the source material . Rather than present the story in the first - person narrative as the original novel did, the play is presented as a reading of Boone's own writing, read aloud in segments by his teacher . The result is that the play is presented as a play - within - a-play . </P> <P> The play, set in Swindon and London is about a 15 - year - old amateur detective named Christopher John Francis Boone who is a mathematical genius . He appears to have an unspecified autism spectrum disorder that is variously described as either autism or Asperger's Syndrome, although the condition is never explicitly stated in the play . The titular curious incident is the mystery surrounding the death of a neighbour's dog, Wellington, found speared by a garden fork . </P> <P> While searching for the murderer of the dog, he encounters resistance from many neighbours, but mostly from his father, Ed Boone . Christopher argues to himself that many rules are made to be broken, so he continues to search for an answer; he compares himself to Sherlock Holmes . When he discovers that his father had both lied about his mother's death for several years and killed Wellington, Christopher is distraught and fears for his own life . For the first time, he travels alone to London to find and live with his mother . He finds the journey overstimulating and stressful, but succeeds and is welcomed by his mother . However, his ambitions lead him back to Swindon, where he wants to sit an A Level mathematics exam . Christopher achieves the best possible result and gradually reconciles with his father . </P> <P> In a short scene after the curtain call, Christopher reappears to brilliantly solve his "favourite question" from the mathematics exam . </P>

The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime sydney cast