Christopher Gray urges everyone to see this play, whether in Oxford or in London

First the good news: this wonderful play, brilliantly fashioned by the National Theatre from Oxford author Mark Haddon’s best-selling novel, is coming to the New Theatre next summer. You can’t wait till then? Well, don’t; see it sooner during its long West End run. Then go again . . .

As reimagined for the stage by playwright Simon Stevens, the story exercises the same mesmerising grip as it does on the page. More so, since it is told under director Marianne Elliott with many of the devices that contribute to the special magic of theatre.

These include a clever interactive set from designer Bunny Christie. The action is framed within a white ‘box’ whose surfaces respond, as if computer screens, to input from the actors.

Chief among these — I think he is never off the stage — is the hero Christopher — and he really is heroic — whose obsession with maths is reflected in the graph-paper-like lines on these moving walls and floor.

Famously, the 15-year-old has Asperger’s Syndrome, which leads to such behavioural peculiarities as his dislike of certain colours (yellow and brown), of being touched and of food placed contiguously on his plate.

Graham Butler gives a riveting portrayal of the boy, who turns detective to investigate the murder, with a garden fork, of his neighbour’s dog. Playing a full 13 years younger than his age, Butler — seen in Oxford last year as Henry VI with Shakespeare’s Globe — confirms his star status, not least in his frightening depiction of the boy’s temper tantrums, and his subtle emotional dealings with his school mentor Siobhan (Sarah Woodward) and his estranged father (Nicolas Tennant) and mother Judy (Emily Joyce).

As in the novel, no episode is more thrilling than Christopher’s solo journey from Swindon to join Judy in London. The escape of his pet rat Toby on the Underground, and the lad’s descent on to the rails to retrieve him, creates scarcely bearable tension.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Gielgud Theatre, London
Booking until February 14, 2015
Call 020 7452 3000 or visit nationaltheatre.org.uk
Or 0844 482 5130 and delfontmackintosh.co.uk
New Theatre, Oxford
July 13-18, 2015
Booking open on 0844 871 3020, atgtickets.com/oxford