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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

His Dark Materials... stage production

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

22:39 / 03.02.04

Just came back from watching part one of the National Theatre's His Dark Materials, and, I have to say, I was fucking gobsmacked. I'd heard varying things about it so had my doubts, but suffice it to say, it rocked.

The daemons (obviously, the thing you most worry they're gonna fuck up) were handled impeccably- for the first few minutes, the fact that everyone was either carrying a glowing animal or bwing followed around by a guy in black who was carrying a glowing animal kind of grated, but this soon passed, and the daemons began being excellent puppetry (especially Pantaleimon- I never thought a puppet could be so simultaneously petulant and loveable). Likewise the armoured bears- each actor carried a bear mask in one hand and claws in the other, and between the two managed to actually act like bears. Somehow. (Although none of their voices were quite BOOMing enough.)

The only things that kind of sucked were the witches- they were a little pantomimey for my liking.

Timothy Dalton as Azrael was truly awesome, and I can't think of anyone better than Patricia Hodge to play Mrs Coulter. Lyra and Will (don't know the actors' names, sorry) were fantastic- the play's treatment of Will I actually preferred to that in the book- he seemed somehow less helpless and more like a kid who's had to deal with life early on and has learned from it.

I can't wait to see part two, and I was so convinced it was gonna be shit.

Anyone else seen it? Anyone seen part two yet? Tell me! TELL ME.

Jack The Bodiless

16:45 / 06.02.04

Oh. I was convinced it was going to be shit too. So I didn't bother. Is it still on, then? Hmmmmm...

I need more input! Someone else tell me what they think...

13:43 / 07.02.04

This is something I really, really want to go see.

Are there still tickets? I hope so, must get on the net and see what the deal is.

10:29 / 04.03.04

I saw the play, and I was totally amazed. I really expected it to be much less involving than the books, but it was great.

btw. If you've seen the play, why don't you visit http://hisdarkmaterials.org and submit your review?

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

14:18 / 16.03.04

I'm holding on until I see part 2- in a few hours from now (Yup- it's that sold out, we could only get tickets for the two parts six fucking weeks apart.) After I've seen that, I shall post here (and probably there, LA) all about it. And all my friends who couldn't get tickets will hate me. Forever.

12:49 / 29.11.04

I don't know who did and didn't see any of this the first time I know it sold out very quickly and it did get great reviews- anyway its running again heres a link.

Stoatie did you see both parts? Its not got Timothy Dalton or Patricia hodge (the new cast is on the link) but i would still love to see it...

thoughts anyone?

14:10 / 29.11.04

I wanna go! I am so,so annoyed I missed it before.

16:39 / 29.11.04

Going to see the first bit in late Feb and the second early March. Mmmm...

Brigade du jour

20:45 / 29.11.04

I'm going to see Part One on 3rd March, my birthday! Yay!

And then Part Two the day after! yay yay!

Oh, handy hint for anyone planning to go. Book it through the Theatre itself rather than Ticketmaster or whatever, it's 20 quid instead of 35 quid.

miss wonderstarr

21:41 / 30.11.04

There is some interesting debate about whether the National Theatre's daemons worked, and how they compare to the "Happiness" animal familiars on the Cadbury's TV ads, here.

I really wanted to like this production, and indeed have bought tickets to part 2 for December having seen part 1 in Spring, but it seemed very much like a kids' telly adventure series; a lot of running around and chasing, a frantic, jolly pantomime atmosphere to which the clever circular stages just contributed. "C'mon, Pan! C'mon Roger! the Gobblers are comin', ent they, run! Let's hide here! They're comin' again, run everybody!" It was inevitably reduced in plot, character and dialogue, but I felt it was also reduced in complexity, subtlety and... "spirit".

01:51 / 01.12.04

I work at the National, but I'm not involved in HDM and haven't seen it (yet) so can't comment on the production, but all my colleagues in the sound department who are working on it are thoroughly bored with the whole thing (you can imagine just how long the pre-production period might take, never mind the length of the run).

However, it's quite fun seeing actors wandering around in full costume having a quick fag in the interval or eating in the canteen. But the best thing are the backstage calls during the technical rehearsals. Some favourites:
"Would Miss (X)'s dresser please go to dressing room 300 with her numchuks..."
"Would everyone involved in the ninja fight please go to the stage now"
"Would the daemons please remember to extinguish themselves after scene (x)"

Stay tuned for more hot insider gossip...

12:31 / 03.02.05

Ok so I just saw Part 2 as a birthday present and I thought I'd report.

**BIG TIME SPOILERS**

I really enjoyed it- although probably nowhere near as much as the books. The plot is very much simpler than the books- essentially this is a kids play, and its geared towards a younger and less confrontational audience. The sub- plot involving the wheely Pod Creatures and the scientist (I forget her name) is totally gone- The amber spyglass is something that's only mentioned briefly by name by a witch at the end of the play- much of the authority stuff is simplified.

I did find the girl playing Lyra slightly grating- her accent wasn't great - but more the effected drama luvvy playing a little girl cutsey voice was more annoying and sounded forced rather than real- but really this is nit-picking on a great production.

It certainly showed a way that the film could go- lots of stuff was made lighter for a younger audience- the angels were played for comedy camp- and the Gallivespians were also played for laughs.

I loved the reveal of Lyra's Death- The black suited puppeter passes Lyra her daemon and then takes off his mask- very cool... in fact much of the staging was great - the stand out section for me in part 2 was the world of the dead.

The main irritants were bits missed out, and I was left wondering if i'd have prefered to have seen 3 plays rather than 2? Again something that movies will address I expect..

The vortex created by Azriel/ the bomb is also skipped over and the vortex is pretty much unexplained as to its existence- as is much of the dust stuff- and the rapid rise in dust escaping.
Azriels and Mrs Coulters battle with the angel is no longer with an Angel - but with the assasin sent from the church- skipping many of the difficult religious connotations- but leaving a few holes in the plot.

any body else got any thoughts...

Brigade du jour

12:22 / 04.03.05

Saw part one last night, seeing part two tonight, and hopefully we'll be there a little earlier so I can settle in my seat and start drooling with anticipation.

I really enjoyed it, although yes it is for kids, yes it veers towards pantomime, and yes Lyra's accent is strange. Irish at first, then Somerset I think? Anyway it's still a great production, the staging is epic and quite phenomenal, which for a story of this scope it definitely needs to be.

The bears take rather more suspension of disbelief than even the rest of it does, because as Stoatie said, it's a guy with a plastic bear-head in his hand, but once you've got over that they work beautifully.

I was sitting in the second row, so maybe a little too close to really be whisked away, what with being able to smell the greasepaint, see up the witches' skirts etc. Will say more after tonight's mighty conclusion.

16:15 / 14.03.05

Holy. Fucking. Wow. That set was just incredible, breathtaking. (And it's the first play I've seen where the stage crew got an ovation -- or a puppet)

I wanted to see more of certain sets and costumes (especially Mrs Coulter's cocktail party -- those outfits were incredible and barely on stage for five minutes -- actually, all of her clothes were gorgeous)

It was interesting that this time around they cast a number of black people. I didn't find it detracted from the story that Lord Asriel was played by black man (even though Lyra was Caucasian), but he was played for laughs and that was a bit annoying. I saw both plays a week apart, and the first one had a different Lyra who was much better than the understudy. Lesley Manville was perfect for Mrs Coulter, though.

16:18 / 14.03.05

Oh yeah, and Lyra's accent was supposed to be old Oxforian, I think. A lot of people in the home counties used to talk like that.

18:15 / 14.03.05

Pantalaimon's operator was a cutie. Nice bottom.

15:11 / 17.03.05

I'd agree with Arch Drude on that one; they butchered the ending. Which is a shame. I know, realistically, they couldn't have portrayed those funky wheelie creatures on stage, nor did they have time to include that entire subplot. It was still a shame to realise that many of my favourite scences, characters, and themes had been droppped.

I dunno. It looked absolutely fantastic; my gob was well and truly smacked. But, when asked by a friend if she should go and see it, I said no; as she hadn't read the book. I thought, in their own right, they were very poor rushed pretentious plays. As a companion to the books; they're marvelous funny spectacular productions.

11:50 / 21.03.05

'Nesh, you are so right. He had a nice set of lips, too.

22:31 / 22.03.05

Refusing to read rest of thread, but I have tickets for Monday. Huzzah!

15:22 / 02.04.05

Crikey. That was good. I even blubbed. I'm a sucker for atheist republican sentiment. More thoughts later.