Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2004 - 30

the books, was put together. At the same time I did a page-bypage synopsis of the book. Then I did more synopses. And
more synopses. Then I did a rough draft which was a basis for
the first workshop. That was a lot to do with the conceptual
ideas of the production. How the sets would be done. What
kind of conventions the daemons would be in. Things like
that." (Butler 2003, 41)
While Wright rewrote throughout the rehearsal process,
Wilde explained that the order of the scenes could not change:
"With so much of the planning done in advance, we said,
You're going to be playing the scene right here." A few of the
scenic elements did change from the conceptual stage but
partly due to budget and engineering concerns rather than
script changes. Svalbard, the castle of the amoured bears, initially was meant to be a "huge carved wall with an upper level
of spikes," according to Wilde. Instead, it consisted of pillars
to indicate the walls. Other changes occurred due to time constraints during technical rehearsals. Hytner had determined
that every change had its "maximum amount of time and anything that can't be done in that time has to be modified." (Butler 2003, 94)
Sacha Milroy talked about the dangers of using the revolves so extensively. "The potential for disaster is huge. So we
had to take it slow and get it right." The production crew had
one week to take out the previous production and load in His
Dark Materials starting after the Saturday evening performance. The technical rehearsals were scheduled to start the
following Saturday and last four days. At the end of those four
days, everything was still not working. The first preview performance was cancelled. Subsequently, two more previews had to
be cancelled. Hytner warned the audience at the first performance that they had yet to run the show without stops (Butler
2003, 100).
Paule Constable, the lighting designer, had her own
unique set of problems to solve. She explained to the Platform
audience that she was using around 1,000 "normal" stage
lights, forty-five moving lights behind the cyclorama and
three video projectors in the "droom." "Each world," she
said, "has its own feel. It took up a few discussions to try to
get the right feel and that feel did change. It became very
real-more vibrant." An audience member asked what
changes had been made since the opening and Constable said
the lighting continued to be refined. She also mentioned that
the video changed during the technical rehearsals, "It got
more complex."
Milroy supplied the audience with some numbers about
the twenty-four stage hands-eight in the drum to change the
furniture, eight lighting, four sound, ten dressers, two wig, two
puppets. The budget for the production was £899,000 (about
$1.6 million) for the physical production. Labor, promotions,
and front of house are not included in that figure.
At the time of the Platform Performance, the National
Theatre had already decided to bring the production of His
Dark Materials back next season. The group on stage unanimously agreed that more time would be given to the technical
rehearsals this time.

THE DÆMONS
In Lyra's world, every person has a visible, animal companion
called a dæmon. These companions change their shapes-
sometimes being a moth, other times an ermine or a cat-until a child reaches puberty when the dæmon's shape becomes
fixed. The relationship between a person and his/her dæmon
is quite difficult to define. The animal is sort of an embodiment
of the soul or subconscious, but also has independent
thoughts and feelings. The crucial relationship of Lyra to her
dæmon, Pantalaimon, creates one of the most moving moments of the book when she must separate from him to enter
the Land of the Dead.
Michael Curry, who made the puppets for The Lion King,
was hired to create the dæmons for His Dark Materials. These
puppets have a light, translucent quality and are not completely fleshed out. At an early rehearsal, Jeff Curry (Michael's
brother) presented the puppets to the cast. Butler describes
this first encounter with the puppets: "The surface of each
creature's face and body was translucent. A fabric had been
stretched and moulded over wires to give shape to the
ridges, hollows and planes around the eye sockets, cheeks
and jaw lines. The wire outlines made the creatures light and
airy. The fabric itself was painted in muted browns, greens, oranges and yellows-crisp autumn colours. These were ghostly
creatures with friendly faces. They didn't look like Disney
characters" (Butler 2003, 18).
The dæmons included any number of animals from frogs
and snakes, to birds and wildcats. Six of the dæmons would be
handled by separate actors while all the rest would be manipulated by the actors themselves. According to David Cauchi,
Curry and his team originally made forty-seven puppets because they thought they could double up, but they found they
needed to create more. Many were created in house. Butler
describes a trip Pullman made to the puppet shop: "Pictures
of dæmons were pinned on the wall above [Lara's] table next
to anatomical pictures of the human body. Lara demonstrated
how she bent the copper-plated wires into shape. Pullman
asked about the gauze. Lara explained that it was powernet, an
industrial fabric which stretches easily without tearing." (Butler 2003, 85)
The actors hired to handle the dæmons were not trained
puppeteers. Learning to create life with an inanimate object
was not an easy undertaking. Early in rehearsals, according to
Butler, it became clear that only certain types of movement
would work well for the puppets. They either needed to be
"moved slowly, moved slightly, or moved, paused and moved"
(p. 74). The puppet would become instantly lifeless if all
movement stopped. Five weeks before opening, Hytner announced to the cast that the dæmons weren't working. This
ignited an intense series of individual rehearsals with associate and staff directors and various revisions to the puppets.
In the end, every movement the puppets made had to be
mapped out (p. 78).
Other changes also needed to be made. Carol Lingwood,
Head of Costume, in a telephone interview, said that the puppets were created by a completely separate department, but
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2004