Can human morals be imposed on non-human creatures?
Dog’s case, written by Miles Hitchens and directed by Charlie McGuire, is a compelling and surrealist exploration into a village community in medieval France shaken by the violent deaths of a father and son after being attacked by their dog, Charlotte.
The play begins when the lights go out and we hear an unnervingly realistic audio of a child playing and laughing, swiftly followed by the sound of a dog attacking him, and finally the crunch of bone between teeth. The show consists of a series of scenes that focus in on the different experiences of the villagers in the aftermath of the attack. We watch the witness testimony of the wife of the mauled husband, the trial in which the dog is put on trial, an interview with a couple who owned the same dog breed—the Grand Bleu—as Charlotte, and end on a wonderful monologue from the perspective of Charlotte herself.
Dog’s Case clearly has a very talented cast, all of whom demonstrate their ability to embody a range of roles, with standout performances from Louisa Hailey as Ralph and Hope Taylor-Marsh as ‘The Justice’. Our final monologue involves Iris Tadie as Charlotte explaining her perspective of the events, while slowly being encircled and bound by rope as her fate closes in on her. She concludes that she doesn’t know why she attacked the father and son—she was a hunting dog, that’s all.
The aspect of Dog’s Case which I found the most interesting was this exploration into the ethics of breeding. How can we blame a hunting dog for the act of hunting? And why is it acceptable when a dog follows their nature and hunts a fox, but not acceptable when they hunt a human? To have this theme of the ethics of breeding dogs as a more consistent theme throughout the show might have allowed for this debate to be critiqued more fully, although delving into such broad and heavy subject matter in just 70 minutes is no doubt challenging. I couldn’t help but feel that it was difficult to grasp firmly onto any aspect of the narrative, whether that be a character or a location, which, for me, was to the show’s detriment.
Image credits: Misha Mir
The cast move between scenes and characters very swiftly, delivering poetic but often overly-abstract lines that sound like they’ve come straight out of the Russian survival game Pathologic. Which isn’t necessarily a criticism: clearly a lot of creative talent went into writing this piece that those with an inclination towards the absurd and the philosophical will particularly appreciate. However, with the cast moving between roles so quickly, there were points where I felt confused about who was who in the show, with certain actors unexpectedly adopting the role of the ‘inner voice’ of another character on stage.
The confusion of the constant character switching is exacerbated by the fact that actors are not given different costumes for different characters, with the exception of the barrister collars. The actors are wearing a combination of black T-shirt with grey sweatpants, which does not convey fifteenth century France. Nor does the basic set design, which consists of the plain stage of the Corpus Playroom, a red curtain occasionally pulled across the back wall, and some chairs and a table. To be fair, though, the chairs and table are pretty authentic-looking. There seems to be some lost potential here: when taking in the set as a whole, there is little to evoke the wonderful setting of medieval France. Of course, shows don’t always need elaborate set design to be entertaining, but I think this piece could have benefitted from something more to enhance the audience’s immersion in the setting.
Image credits: Misha Mir
Dog’s Case is certainly an original piece of writing on the subjects grief, justice, and the ethics of breeding animals. Its shortcoming was its lack of consistent characters, preventing much sympathy to be directed towards any of the characters, even Charlotte. Still, this is a show which I have no doubt will resonate with certain audiences. If you are interested in the justice system and its intersection with animal rights, and tend to like less literal, more interpretive modes of storytelling, I would recommend this show. Whether human morals can and should be imposed on non-human creatures is a big question that Dog’s Case approaches in a unique and original way, and it’s a question that the audience will no doubt be left wondering about for quite some time.
3.5/5
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