The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage – Bridge Theatre, London

A review of The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage, an adaptation of Philip Pullman’s novel at the Bridge Theatre. Just as the Belle Sauvage is swept along by floodwaters, you will be swept along with the excitement and energy of this production.

Staging Philip Pullman

The Book of Dust is not a prequel to the trilogy His Dark Materials, says Philip Pullman. It is an ‘equel‘, standing alongside his earlier series. Except that it kind of is a prequel; it features some of the same characters at an earlier time in their lives. In any case, it expands the much-beloved world Pullman created beginning with Northern Lights in 1995. La Belle Sauvage, the first installation of The Book of Dust, is the story of how Lyra Belacqua, one of the protagonists of His Dark Materials, ends up at Jordan College in Oxford. It is the story of a very big flood, and how baby Lyra is carried to safety against all odds. In a canoe named La Belle Sauvage.

Pullman’s world in these two series is an alternate reality to our own. Very similar, yet different. The major difference, and a challenge for any creative team, is that every person in this world has a daemon. A demon, you ask? No, a daemon: kind of hard to explain but something in animal form which is intrinsically linked to a person’s inner self. Like a physical embodiment of their soul. When you die, your daemon disappears. If your daemon is attacked, you feel it.

Other than that, it’s a nice cosy world. Sure, there are shadowy church figures and secret police. But technologically it’s kind of Victorian. Or maybe steam punk. No mobile phones or TV or cars. But the odd gyrocopter (helicopter) and so on. It’s a world where people still know their neighbours. And can drop in on the local nuns.

So certainly some challenges to get such a world onto the stage. But a lot of potential to create a special connection with audiences. This production was planned well before Covid, but it’s nice timing to be able to see something escapist and fun, full of plot and interesting creatures, in this rather bleak winter.

The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage

Now for a bit more detail on the production itself. As I mentioned before, there are certain challenges in staging plays set in Pullman’s world (not that it stopped the National Theatre). And specific challenges with staging this story. In the former category the main challenge is coming up with a good solution for daemons. In the latter, it’s the fact that most of the action takes place on a small boat racing around in floodwaters.

Like I was saying in my review of The Ocean at the End of the Lane, it’s amazing what creative people can do. Barnaby Dixon firstly has done an excellent job of the daemons as Puppet Designer and Director. The daemons are like white origami creations, lit up with a warm glow. Actors manipulate the daemons of key characters, and the sizes range from little birds to a big hyena. It’s a neat way of creating something which is a little bit metaphysical while still very much part of the plot.

And several of the creative team come together to solve for the play’s setting. The overall Designer is Bob Crowley, with Luke Halls as Video Designer, and Jon Clark as Lighting Designer. Their solution is simple yet effective. The majority of the setting is created through projections onto sliding screens. Halls’ woodcut-style animations stand in for buildings, riverbanks, floodwaters, and more. It means that scene changes are more or less seamless. And allows La Belle Sauvage to float all the way from Oxford to London.

Lastly on the subject of creative people making this a great adaptation, I must of course mention Bryony Lavery, whose adaptation it is. Lavery describes her very thorough process in the programme; it seems to work wonders, as her end result here condenses really quite a lot of action into a couple of hours on stage. And it never feels like there’s too much plot – instead it’s exciting from beginning to end, and contains all the major plot points as well as the heart of the novel. Very impressive indeed.

Some Excellent Debuts

So I haven’t actually told you much about the plot yet. Other than that baby Lyra Belacqua is transported to safety across the floodwaters. Well clearly Lyra can’t row the boat herself, so this is where our main protagonists come in. Malcolm Polstead is the twelve year old son of the landlady of The Trout Inn near Oxford. Malcolm is curious, loyal, and full of heart. Through a series of events which I will leave you to discover by watching the play or reading the book, and against a backdrop of persistent rain and menacing and powerful religious organisations, Malcolm ends up knowing more than is safe for him about baby Lyra. When the river bursts its banks, he takes her and flees, along with the Trout’s ‘pot girl’ Alice.

Like any good story of young people against the world, Malcolm and Alice come up against many obstacles. One big one is that most of the adults they meet have ulterior motives. Another is that some of them are particularly nasty characters. So although we know that Lyra is going to be ok because she is the subject of four other books (and counting), there is a lot of excitement in this plot-driven play.

And there are really excellent performances from Samuel Creasey as Malcolm and Ella Dacres as Alice; both in their professional debuts. Creasey in particular has a real charisma about him which draws the audience in immediately. He gets humour out of throwaway lines, and is believable as a terrified but brave boy who will try his best to do what is right. Dacres plays the somewhat world-wearier Alice well too, as she begins to trust herself enough to trust others.

And I must mention one final debut. There was a real live baby on stage too! Surely the baby in question must change around – on the night I saw, Adiya Ijaha was playing Lyra. Not all the time – with all the rushing around it wouldn’t be safe or practical to use a real baby for the whole thing. But she transfixes the audience, reminding us of the magic of a little person with so much possibility and potential.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 4.5/5

The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage on until 26 February 2022