BridgeToTheStars.net | His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman, and other ideas...

Stage Adaptation

The National Theatre and the Department of Culture have a tremendous resource on the plays - Stagework.org. The site has a great selection of videos, images, and text that go in-depth about the process of staging His Dark Materials.

The layout of the site can be a bit tricky at times however, and it can take awhile to find everything on your own; so, we've put together this complete guide of the contents of the Stagework site, so that you can jump directly to the content that you want. Enjoy!

Production - Issues - People

The Production

Alethiometer

Images

-6 images from the Pitt Rivers museum, including a Chinese compass with symbols around the edges that greatly resembles the alethiometer, as well as an image of the prop used in the play.

Videos

-Pullman reading the alethiometer giving scene from Northern Lights (also text extract of the scene from the books)
-Nicholas Wright talks about adapting that scene for the play (also text extract from the scene in the script)
-The scene being acted for the stage play (things to note: Anna working with the Pan puppet, and the music played for the alethiometer)

Text

-NL Excerpt
-Play Script Excerpt

Costume Design

Images

-Principal Characters - 8 images of the costumes for the main characters like Lyra, Mrs. Coulter, Iorek, and Jopari.
-Bears and Gyptians - 8 images of the bear costumes (note the differences between each character) and gyptians
-Witches - 8 images showing the inspirations and sketches for the witch costumes
-The Church and Oxford - 6 images on the characters from the Church, and the scholars of Oxford.
-Bolvangar - 6 sketches and photos of costumes for the staff and children at Bolvangar.

Video

-Jon Morrell talks about his designs for the costumes and their influences

Costume Fitting

Videos:

-Bear Costume Fitting - interview with Danny Sapani about the bear costumes; includes some excellent closeups of the armored bear costumes.
-Jon Morrell - interview with the costume designer, talking about the costume difficulties involved with having 30 actors play 250 characters.

Daemons

Images:

-Initial Designs - 6 of the original sketches for the daemon puppets, cliff ghasts, and angels.

Videos:

-Operating the Golden Monkey - Ben Wright talks about the physical approach to operating Mrs. Coulter's silent daemon.
-Acting With Daemons - Danny Sapani describes how hard it is to work with a daemon.
-Character and Daemon - Patricia Hodge and Ben Wright talk about the relationship between character and daemon.
-Philip Pullman's Daemon - Pullman describes why he thinks his daemon is a bird that collects bright objects.
-Giles Cadle - Set Designer Giles Cadle talks on why he decided on puppets to represent the daemons.

Diaries

-Anna Maxwell Martin wrote daily about the process of putting the play together.

Fighting

Videos:

-Terry King - the fight director talks about good fight arranging, and creating the illusion of conflict
-Bear Fight - gives an excellent look at a rehearsal for the fight between Iorek and Iofur
-Witch Torture - King shows the actors how to give a painless but convincing slap, and how to make the sound of a breaking finger with a twist of bubble wrap.
-Inika Leigh-Wright - the actress who plays the tortured witch talks about portraying her character's fear.

Introduction

Text:

-Page to Stage - read about the transformation of the text to the stage.

Lighting Design

Videos:

-Creating Atmosphere - Lighting Designer Paule Constable talks about using lights to create the right feel
-Darkness Visible - Paule continues her discussion, now on how the play is a dark piece, and the challenges that presents.
-Work Process - goes behind the scenes of what's involved in deciding how to light each scene.
-Northern Lights - discusses how the light and sound directors worked together to create the effect for the aurora.
-Daemon Cage - shows how lighting can be used to enchance a scene from the books (the clip is the scene where Lyra finds the severed daemons)

Lyra Meets Iorek

Videos:

-Lyra Meets Iorek - Danny Sapani talks about the relationship between the armored bear and Lyra.
-Playing an Armoured Bear - Danny Sapani talks about when he was approached to play the bear, a character who had captured his imagination when he had read the books.
-Surrogate Parents - Philip Pullman talks about the number one rule in children's literature.
-Scene in Rehearsal - the rehearsal of the scene where Lyra first meets the armoured bear, Iorek.

Production Management

Videos:

-Production Manager's Role - Sacha Milroy talks about the demanding task of organizing every technical aspect of the show.
-Set Model - Milroy talks about having to decide what's within the realms of the possible.
-The Budget - Milroy continues her talk, now about working with the money available to create the best production.

Set Design

Videos:

-Work Process - Giles Cadle talks about his initial reaction to the story, and the process of designing the sets, showing examples of the set models.
-Designer and Creative Team - Cadle talks about the relationship between all the elements of the set.

Images:

-Real Places - 6 images of the botanical gardens, Oxford, and Svalbard.
-Fabrication - 8 images of the process of building the various sets in the workshops of the NT.
-Model and Storyboard - 8 images of scenes on the set miniature model for the first play.

Sound

Videos:

-Northern Lights - sound and lighting crews experimented with an early idea for the northern lights effect.
-Daemon Cage - the same scene as listed under 'Lighting Design', only look at it from a sound perspective.
-Challenge - Sound Designer Paul Groothuis talks about the wide variety of sounds used in the play, and how sound is used to move the story along.
-Monsters - Groothuis talks about the difficulty of having to come up with sounds for the fantastic creatures in His Dark Materials.

Stage Technology

Videos:

-Inika Leigh-Wright talks about what it's like to be inside the Droom waiting to go on.
-Bolvangar Canteen - is an excellent example of the Droom in action for a scene transition.

Svalbard

Videos:

-Iofur Deceived - shows the development of the scene where Lyra tricks the bear king.
-Matt Wilde - The assistant director talks about his role in developing the play. (some good footage of multiple bears)
-Captured by Bears - the scene where the bear soldiers capture Lyra after she falls out of the balloon.

Technical Rehearsal Cast

Videos:

-Process of Discovery - Patricia Hodge talks about getting the staging right.
-Drum Revolve - Ben Wright talks about getting used to the complex stage technology
-Wings - Russell Tovey talks about working on his entrances and exits.
- Acting - Dominic Cooper talks about stopping rehearsing and starting to get inside the character.
-Previews - Nicholas Wright talks about the Previews, and making last minute changes to the script.

Technical Rehearsal Crew

Videos:

-On the Night - Paule Constable talks about putting the lighting ideas into practice for the technical rehearsals
-Ambience - Sound Designer Paul Groothuis talks about finalizing the sounds for the technical rehearsal
-Long Hours - broken link (supposed to be Production Manager Sacha Milroy)

Issues

Beyond the Book

Videos:

-Adapting the Novels - Nicholas Wright talks about making changes to the story.
-Nicholas Wright: Will Meets Iorek - Nicholas Wright talks about the scene where Will encounters Iorek, and the differences between the scene in the books and the one in the play.
-Philip Pullman on Script- Pullman talks about his thoughts on the script and Nicholas Wright.
-Novel as Drama - Pullman talks about the scene where Will met Iorek in the books.

Text:

-Adaptation - the process of adapting a story
-Script: Will meets Iorek - excerpt from the script.

Sources and Influences

Videos:

-Philip Pullman Interview: Eve - Pullman talks about Lyra's role as Eve, and contrasts her with Mary, mother of Jesus.
-Philip Pullman Interview: Dust - Pullman discusses the many meanings of Dust.
-Jon Morrell on Costume Design - Morrell talks about his initial ideas for the costumes. (also images)
-Set Design Work Process - Giles Cadle talks about his inital reactions to the books.

Images:

-Initial Costumes of Witches - 8 images of inspiration for the witch costumes.

Text:

- Milton- looks at the text of Paradise Lost, and it's influences on the plot and characters of His Dark Materials.
- William Blake - talks about innocence vs. experience, and it's portrayal in HDM.

Faith, Truth, and Blasphemy

Videos:

-Philip Pullman - Pullman explains why he believes the spiritual impulse is important to us all.
-Witch Torture Scene - echoes of the inquisition, as a witch is tortured by Mrs. Coulter and the Church for information about Lyra.

Text:

-Imagine There's No Heaven - discusses Pullman's portrayal of religion.

The People