Lyra is commented on as a ‘second Eve’ but to me is a potential messianic figure challenging the status quo (the authority of the Magisterium). La Belle Sauvage is described it as an ‘equel’, rather than a prequel or sequel to His Dark Materials trilogy and as I see it deals with the birth of Lyra Belacqua the daughter of Lord Asriel and Marisa Coulter (who both appear in the play). Into the mix is the significance of alethiometers devices which only a few are able to read and are unable to give false responses because of their connection to Dust. The suggestion here is that they represent conscience – and even freewill – that could be a threat to the Magisterium. Well, there’s the Magisterium (a bit like the Inquisition) determined to suppress heresy and the realisation that there is something called Dust which seems like a world wide web of knowledge connecting humans with their souls which has a physical manifestation as animal-spirits or dæmons. I must say I have never read any of Philip Pullman’s books, but I had seen The Golden Compass 2007 film and the two series so far of the BBC TV adaptation of His Dark Materials. I was watching NT Live’s broadcast of La Belle Sauvage from London’s Bridge Theatre in an encouragingly well-filled cinema in Basildon: did I entirely understand what I saw, no, did I enjoy the ride Nicholas Hytner and his co-directors Emily Burns and James Cousins took us on, yes, very much indeed.

(JPr) Ella Dacres (Alice), Pip Carter (Gerard Bonneville) & Julie Atherton (Hyena) (c) Manuel Harlan United Kingdom Bridge Theatre’s The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage: Broadcast by NT Live to Cineworld Basildon, Essex, from Bridge Theatre, London.

Pullman book of dust