Judy's Letters

English Lit: Edexcel IGCSE The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, topic 3.1.7

Christopher Finds his Mother's Letters

Christopher defies his father and begins searching for his notebook. His search leads him to an old “shirt box” in his father’s clothes cupboard in which he finds his book and some envelopes, all addressed to him.

Siobhan and Judy as narrators

Stephens uses the actors playing Siobhan and Judy to narrate the letters, all written by Judy to Christopher after she has left Ed and set up a new home in London with Mr Shears.

Parallel scene

While Siobhan and Judy read the letters aloud, the audience sees a parallel scene between Christopher and Ed as they discuss that night’s tea and a David Attenborough TV programme.
At first, Christopher shows no signs of reacting to the contents of the letters in which Judy apologises for leaving and notes how Christopher still hasn’t written to her.
The lack of any reaction at first helps to build up tension as the audience begin to realise how Ed has lied to his son.

First signs that he's affected

The first sign that Christopher is affected by the letters is when he “lies down on the floor” and “curls himself up into a ball”, behaviour he exhibits when in distress.

"Forty-three" letters

Christopher reads more letters, “forty-three of them”, the following night after Ed has gone out.
Stephens recreates this on stage by having Judy and Siobhan narrate from the letters while Christopher sits in the middle of the stage, assembling his train set.
As Christopher begins to get upset about the contents of the letters, the stage directions signal that Christopher’s building “becomes frantic”, another use of gesture and movement to reveal what is happening inside Christopher.

Christopher Finds his Mother's Letters (Cont.)

Judy's explanations

Judy’s letters explain how her relationship with Ed broke down, largely due to the strain they were both under in bringing up Christopher.
Judy describes herself as “not a very good mother” and describes one particular incident when she was unable to calm Christopher after he had got lost when shopping.
She tells how she came to realise that “she couldn’t take it anymore”, how she argued with Ed and how she “felt really lonely”.

Christopher's realisation

Christopher realises that his father has lied to him and that his mother is still alive.
He appears unable to cope with this discovery.
The stage directions describe him rolling into a ball again, but this time his movements are much more violent as he hits his hands, feet and head against the floor until he is “exhausted” and unable to “move or respond” when Ed arrives back.

Tender ending

This climactic scene ends with a moment of tenderness as Ed lifts Christopher to bed “very, very gently”.

Test yourself on Judy's Letters

What do the stage directions say about Christopher's building as he processes the contents of the letters?
What is Christopher doing while Judy and Siobhan narrate from Judy's letters?
What does Judy say of herself in her letters?
How does the scene end in tenderness?

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