Most plays take place over a very limited number of locations. Others require complex scene changes. But in terms of set design, His Dark Materials is on a different scale from most productions. Each of the two plays has 55 locations within the three hours: a scene change every 3 minutes. And the locations themselves range from caves to cities, Arctic fortresses to hot-air balloons and courtrooms to a bus stop on the Oxford Ring Road. Here you can follow the evolution of the design from a model to the making of the scenery.
Some of the locations in Philip Pullman’s books are inspired by
real places, but many of the others are not explicitly described. Set Designer
Giles Cadle's process for evolving the set is to start with sketches and then to build a
model and storyboard of the whole play. The design continues to evolve through the early rehearsals and this involves continuous discussion between the
designer and the creative team . Finally the set is locked off and the
fabrication phase begins in the National Theatre’s workshops.
