The Northern Echo - Review: His Dark Materials, Part I

Tue 06 Nov 2012

Written by Steve Pratt

Daunting is one of the words used by assistant director Eleanor Clare Taylor in her programme notes for York Youth Theatre’s foray into the fantastic and philosophical world of Philip Pullman.

She describes the moment when she and director Kate Plumb realised they “needed to somehow fit a polar bear, a pine marten, a snow goose, a witch, two children and an eccentric Texan man into a basket”.

It neatly sums up the challenges of staging this play, adapted from the books by Nicholas Wright and first seen at the National Theatre, which demands a lot from participants on and backstage.

Plumb’s production, aided by Gemma Greaves’ simple but effective multi-level set, negotiated the staging aspects skilfully. The animal costumes, particularly Lyra’s “daemon”

Pan in pine marten form (nimbly handled by Rob Paterson) and the magnificent polar bears, were great.

The first half moved swiftly along as 12-year-old Lyra embarked on her adventure to change the world before becoming sluggish in the second half.

There was also the problem on the opening night of underpowered vocal performances from some cast members, who needed to speak up.

It is hard enough following Pullman’s complex story without the added problem of being unable to hear key story points.

This isn’t a charge that could be leveled against Anna Soden’s confident, sparky showing as Lyra, who finds herself having to deal with big philosophical matters, as well as her tangled family history in various parallel universes.

Toby Jackson’s Will, James Osman’s Lord Asriel and Laura Soper’s Mrs Coulter were among the others who made their mark.

Read the review on The Northern Echo website.