Screen Daily is reporting that open auditions for the part of Lyra in the upcoming His Dark Materials film will be held. The producers say they are looking for a girl “who embodies Lyra's loyalty, bravery and mischievous nature” and say that she need not have any previous acting experience.

Auditions for the role will be taking place solely in England: at Cambridge, Oxford, Kendal and Exeter. The auditions will be held during the first two weeks of this April. A girl between the ages of 9 and 13 is being sought, allaying fears that Lyra's age would be raised for legal or moral reasons.

For those going: We'd like to cover the auditions here on BttS as fully as possible, so if anyone actually going to the auditions is interested, we'd love it if they could tell us of their experiences – how they convinced their parents, what the queue was like and perhaps even taking a few photos. If you are planning to go to the auditions and are interested, then you can email us here. Your stories would be featured here after each of the auditions.

Details:

The casting calls will have open queues in the morning lasting from 10 o'clock until 12 o'clock and will end at 5 o'clock in the afternoon.

The exact locations are:

• Cambridge's Corn Exchange (4 April)
• Kendal's Castle Green Hotel (6 April)
• Oxford's Examination Schools (11 April)
• Exeter's Great Hall at the University of Exeter (13 April)