Hs darkest materials - part two
Continue in the review off the National Theatre's production of Philip Pullman's “His Dark Materials”. This review covers the second play which takes in the remaining part of The Subtle Knife, and the concluding book in the trilogy, The Amber Spyglass
Having had a couple of hours to feed himself and freshen up and more importantly get some feeling back into his bottom, Mr Warlock again ventured off to the theatre for the second play, which concluded the HDM story.
There was another capacity crowd at the theatre there were noticeably less children than at the matinee performance, although there were number of families, mixed in with us more disconcerting theatre critics.
Unfortunately, this time round Mr Warlock seat wasn't so advantageous but still afforded him a spectacular view of the stage.
As normally parts one and parts to run on separate days, there was a brief recap at the beginning of part two to freshen to the memory. The play picks up where the consistorial court reveal Lyra’s hidden name to be Eve and Will and Lyra having fought and won the right to bear the subtle knife return to Will's Oxford to reclaim the Alethiometer from Lord Boreal. As I mentioned before, Mary Malone is completely absent from this play and so therefore is the land of the Mulefa. Purists may see this as a sacrilegious omission as it is Mary who actually constructs an amber spyglass through which she is able to see the flowing movements of Dust. Instead the ownership of the amber spyglass in the play has passed to the witch Queen Serafina Pekkala.
This is not the only time that the play's detract from the books also missing is Lee Scoresby's defiant Alamoesque stand and subsequent death , holding off a score of Zeppelin soldiers to buy time for the shaman Jopari to find the knife bearer, who just so happens to be his son.
Also brother Jasper's role seems to have been increased. Not only is he an Alethiometer reader, but in the play he also takes on the mantle off Metatron and Father Gomez. It is he who the contest the Tory or court dispatched to kill Lyra, and also who Lord Asriel and Mrs Coulter battle and condemned both him and themselves to death in the abyss.
I Should perhaps also comment that Mrs Coulter's character appears to being toned down a little and she appears to find some sort redemption in agreeing to spy for Lord Asriel. The second play, also introduced the Gallivespians and their dragonflies. These two were multi-articulated puppets probably about 2 feet in height and whether intentionally or unintentionally, provided some comic relief. In fact Lord Roke’s one liners had most of the audience laughing.
But truth be told the second part still held the same high standards that the first half managed to obtain. Notably when Lyra and Will venture into the land of the dead. The scene where Lyra has to leave her in daemon Pantalaimon behind brought tears to the eyes of many are grown up. A special mentioned should go to David Harewood, who portrayed Lord Asriel was such gusto that we would have gladly followed him to the ends of the world, although this is partly due to the fact that it probably be warmer there then it was outside. But for many the most heart rendering scene is when Will and Lyra have to part each to remain in their own Oxford, unable to ever meet again.
This was a very ambitious project for any theatre company to undertake I think anyone who saw it would have to agree that the National Theatre managed to pull it off quite remarkably. The audience, some of whom would have paid hundreds of pounds to obtain their tickets as they were going like gold dust, would have viewed their money has been well spent. With the producer announcing that there are no plans to revive display next year or in the foreseeable future and this current run ending on the 2nd April of this year, I would advise anyone who is able to go and see it to do so.
As you are not allowed to take photographs in the theatre, I managed to obtain some pictures off the electrical interweb.
Here, Lesley Manville (Mrs. Coulter) Forgets that Elaine Symons (Lyra) isn’t a puppet and attempts to remove her head.
here Lyra accuses Will off having eaten her veggie burger
In this scene, Lyra tries to guess which one used to be in the Fox’s glacier mint advertisement.
Okay, so this isn’t really relevant to HDM, but this poem by Sue Hubbard was on the subway that leads from Waterloo station to the London Imax cinema, the route which Mr. Warlock took to get to the theatre. I liked it so much that I ripped it off the wall and here it is….
I am not afraid as I descend,
step by step, leaving behind the salt wind
blowing up the corrugated river,
the damp city streets, their sodium glare
of rush-hour headlights pitted with pearls of rain;
for my eyes still reflect the half remembered moon.
Already your face recedes beneath the station clock,
a damp smudge among the shadows
mirrored in the train's wet glass,
will you forget me? Steel tracks lead you out
past cranes and crematoria,
boat yards and bike sheds, ruby shards
of roman glass and wolf-bone mummified in mud,
the rows of curtained windows like eyelids
heavy with sleep, to the city's green edge.
Now I stop my ears with wax, hold fast
the memory of the song you once whispered in my ear.
Its echoes tangle like briars in my thick hair.
You turned to look.
Second fly past like birds.
My hands grow cold. I am ice and cloud.
This path unravels.
Deep in hidden rooms filled with dust
and sour night-breath the lost city is sleeping.
Above the hurt sky is weeping,
soaked nightingales have ceased to sing.
Dusk has come early. I am drowning in blue.
I dream of a green garden
where the sun feathers my face
like your once eager kiss.
Soon, soon I will climb
from this blackened earth
into the diffident light.
-- Eurydice by Sue Hubbard
(Eurydice was the wife of Orpheus)