His Dark Materials (NHB Modern Plays)

Product Information

His Dark Materials TV series on the BBC: Casting, characters, start date - everything you need to know". I took dozens, not really knowing at this stage what I wanted to do with them, but not being a great photographer there were only a few of usable quality. The usual Bench stalwarts acquit themselves more than admirably, but the big surprises come in the form of two youngsters. Julie Wood came up with the design concept for the puppets and, along with a dogged team of makers, has been absolutely crucial to helping create an integral element of the show. The main problem has been finding a way of augmenting the story without interfering with the action on stage or distracting the audience in any way (who really need to concentrate without being overwhelmed by inappropriate sound activity).

Although he is the overarching antagonist of the series, the Authority remains in the background; he makes his only appearance late in The Amber Spyglass. A witch who seeks revenge for her son's death in the war against the Authority draws Lyra, now 15, into a trap.If you don't see behind the Church, you don't understand why they are so fixated on hunting down a young girl, and you also miss out on why she is so important. Wright tries to solve the problems with passages of expository or polemical monologue, but these are frequently overlong and hard to follow. The journey through the underworld - part Greek myth, part medieval harrowing of hell - has a devastating eeriness. One thing has been clear from the start: sound is perhaps more important in this production than any other Bench endeavour to date.

It is available to watch at the National Theatre Archives in London for free with a booked appointment. In December 2004 The Bench staged "A Christmas Carol", directed by Mark Wakeman, as the launch pad for Havant Arts Centre's ongoing plan to have a major production during the Festive period. Pullman, also set in the world of His Dark Materials, will be published as a major work in three parts, with the first part to arrive in October 2017.Whether that's putting new work on stages across the world or supporting our outreach and learning programmes, every purchase you make really does make a difference. The play was since then played many times in the UK, involving professionnal or amateurs and youth cast and crews. He has also won many distinguished prizes, including the Carnegie Medal for The Golden Compass (and the reader-voted "Carnegie of Carnegies" for the best children's book of the past seventy years); the Whitbread (now Costa) Award for The Amber Spyglass; a Booker Prize long-list nomination (The Amber Spyglass); Parents' Choice Gold Awards (The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass); and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, in honor of his body of work.

Will, Lyra, Tialys and Salmakia journey to the Land of the Dead, temporarily parting with their dæmons to release the ghosts from their captivity.The show combines the epic with the intimate and this provided me, as director, a highly enjoyable challenge.