“doing all that the professionals are doing and sometimes doing it even better.”
This production was performed at The Mission Theatre 4th-14th July 2007 and at The Minack Theatre, Cornwall from 20th-24th August 2007
Based on Philip Pullman’s trilogy, His Dark Materials, this brilliant adaptation by Nicholas Wright is a play in two parts. It is essentially a love story in which the leading characters, Lyra and Will, meet as young teenagers from different worlds. Lyra, the daughter of Lord Asriel, is on a journey beyond her wildest imaginings. Will, from our world, is seeking his lost father. Driven on by unseen powers, the two young people join forces against the malevolent inhabitants they encounter - soul-eating spectres, child-catching gobblers, a manipulative mother, a megalomaniac father and a corrupt church. This is an epic journey for actors and audiences alike.
Primarily a battle between good and evil, His Dark Materials is peopled by memorable characters and scenes drawn from both the human and fantasy worlds – from the armoured bears of Svallbard to the witches of The Northern Lands, from the horrors of the Cliff-ghasts to the Harpies in The Land of the Dead, from the Oxford of Lyra’s world to the brilliance of the Aurora - Pullman weaves them all together with a magical touch.
This is Next Stage Theatre Company’s most ambitious production yet. His Dark Materials has a cast of 26, stunning costumes and masks, an original musical score, and special effects and lighting designed for the fast-moving and complex plot.
Cast:
The Minack Theatre Rehearsal Photographs:
