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His Dark Materials

  • opened: 1/3/2004
  • closed: 3/27/2004
  • National Theatre, Olivier
  • Box Office: 020 7452 3000
  • Details:
  • Summary: Visit theARCHIVE. Nicholas Wright's adaptation of Philip Pullman's award-winning, highly contentious trilogy has finally been unveiled at the National Theatre in a production directed by supremo Nicholas Hytner. Weighing in at six hours, the sheer task of editing down the volumes was immense; Robert Butler in his behind-the-scenes book 'The Art of Darkness' estimates that it represented a cull of 'five out of six sentences'. Starring Anna Maxwell Martin and Dominic Cooper as childhood heroes Lyra and Will, whose parallel-universe-traversing adventures bring them up against all manner of creatures, the stage version has been praised and disparaged in equal measure. Some critics have viewed the whole experience as a triumph of dull, competent compression that fails to match Pullman's peaks of imaginative inspiration; others have suggested that, for all its faults, the show contains unexpected magic and truth. Charles Spencer in the Daily Telegraph was pretty damning: 'The stage version of His Dark Materials strikes me as an honourable failure rather than an exhilarating success. There are some striking moments and several superb performances, but too often the production seems earthbound when it ought to soar, depressingly literal when it ought to fire the imagination. Whisper it ever so quietly, but there were long stretches when I was bored. Much of the trouble stems from Nicholas Wright's adaptation. Not only does it infuriatingly give away the trilogy's deeply poignant conclusion in the opening scene, but it also largely fails to develop an independent dramatic life of its own.' In the Times, Benedict Nightingale agreed: 'I must admit that, lover of all things bold and imaginative though I hope I am, I was weary by the end. I had had my fill of rushing witches, men waving bear masks, screeching harpies... and even the mammals, birds or reptiles which are carried by actors or manipulated by puppeteers in order to represent characters' spirits or 'daemons'. And I had had more than my fill of Pullman's mind... eventually tension and excitement get lost in the pseudo-theological blather, and the ending leaves it unclear how far the 'republic of heaven' has been established. And, finally, who cares? I'm afraid I didn't, much.' In the Daily Express, Robert Gore-Langton also sighed: 'For all its occasional glories, a slight air of disappointment hangs over this monster piece. Unlike The Lord of the Rings on film, His Dark Materials doesn't quite find a way of bringing an equivalent modern epic alive in the theatre. I wouldn't have missed it but it's too long, too literal and not the knock-out event one hoped for.' Michael Billington's overall assessment in the Guardian ran thus: 'Much of the first two thirds is, quite frankly, heavy going. Culled from Northern Lights, Lyra's journey to rescue abducted children from the Arctic is faithfully done, but lacking mythic resonance. And The Subtle Knife's power struggles in parallel worlds at times become, unless you're steeped in the book, impenetrably hard to follow... But in the final third, taken from The Amber Spyglass, the evening becomes truly moving.' Paul Taylor in the Independent admired the central performances: 'I have never seen impersonations of the tricky pre-adolescent state so uncondescending or empathetic. Maxwell Martin radiates the tough, weary street wisdom and underlying vulnerability of an illegitimate girl abandoned to her own devices by neglectful, high-born parents... Cooper movingly suggests the damaged side of Will that the boy's courage manages to surmount.' He went on: 'The best moment comes when Samuel Barnett, who manipulates Pantalaimon, Lyra's daemon, takes off his black mask and eerily reveals himself as her other constant personal companion, Death. That's the kind of boldly imaginative, non-technology-reliant touch that one would like more of in a production that too often leaves you wondering how Robert Lepage or Theatre de Complicite might better have handled things.' In the Sunday Independent, Madeleine North suggested: 'Once you have adjusted to another person's interpretation, it's clear that Wright's done a pretty faithful job. Inevitably, some of the magic is lost in the extra exposition needed to keep the story moving, but director Nicholas Hytner never slackens the pace and his actors, crucially, are captivating.' In the Evening Standard, Nicholas de Jongh wrote approvingly: 'The business of transferring this trilogy's worlds of fantasy, its dream-like invention of daemons, cliff-ghasts and spectres to the stage is always a daunting one. Neither Giles Cadle's sets nor Jonathan Dove's conventional music, with its Wagnerian and Sibelian echoes, are exotically strange enough. But Hytner's staging has oodles of narrative zest as it whisks between the freezing northern hemisphere, an almost deserted seaside world and acres of dead trees, green seas and yellow clouds.' In the Mail on Sunday, Georgina Brown enthused: 'Some of the scope, convolution and characters has inevitably been lost in the necessary compression... but the story emerges with impressive clarity.. The real triumph of the piece, for me, however, is the puppeteering which moves beyond literary illustration into a wholly theatrical realm.' 'The year has barely begun,' affirmed Mark Shenton in the Sunday Express, 'yet it is already hard to imagine it will deliver another theatrical event of such ambition, daring or scope.' In the Observer, Susannah Clapp discerned: 'As much pageant as play, His Dark Materials changes shape as often as one of Pullman's daemons; it flutters, sometimes flounders, and occasionally flies high. It's imperfect, but it's important. It expands the National's territory.' In the Sunday Times, Robert Hewison applauded: 'In many ways, Nicholas Wright's adaptation improves on Pullman's wandering narrative, while Hytner and his designer, Giles Cradle, use the Olivier's revolving stage, with its rising and falling drum, to make fast and smooth transitions between the myriad locations the story demands.'
  • Author: Nicholas Wright adapting from Philip Pullman
  • Director: Nicholas Hytner
  • Composer: Jonathan Dove
  • Lyricist: n/aSet Designer: Giles Cradle
  • Lighting Designer: Paule Constable
  • Costume Designer: Jon Morrell
  • Choreographer: Aletta Collins
  • Cast Details: Anna Maxwell Martin (Lyra Belacqua); Dominic Cooper (Will Parry); Timothy Dalton (Lord Asriel); Patricia Hodge (Mrs Coulter).