The Alethiometer - from the Greek ‘truth measurer’ - is the most important prop in the plays. Though adults must study for years to decode its messages, the child Lyra learns how to use it by herself. Here you can discover the real instruments that inspired Philip Pullman and how these were interpreted to create the Alethiometer used in the plays. You can examine how the scene in which Lyra receives the instrument evolved from the original manuscript to the final play and see the scene with Lyra, the Master and Mrs Coulter in early rehearsal.
The anthropological collections of The
Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford provided author Philip Pullman with inspiration for many things in
His Dark Materials. These include the Chinese compasses that inspired the Alethiometer, the trepanned skulls that show the presence of ‘dust’, the arctic costumes and of course a location for key events.
Philip Pullman reads from his original manuscript the scene in which Lyra is given the Alethiometer by the Master of Jordan College and told to keep it secret. You can then compare this with the same scene in the first published book
Northern Lights. Playwright
Nicholas Wright explains how he adapted the scene for the stage and you can see
the Alethiometer scene in rehearsal and read
the play script.