blank
Stagework | issues - ideas - people - performance


Search Stagework

home
productions
issues
people
for teachers
events & workshops
stagework blog
 
Daemons 
 
This is an image carousel
Initial Designs
 
This is a video clip
Operating The Golden Monkey
 
This is a video clip
Acting With Daemons
 
This is a video clip
Character And Daemon
 
This is a video clip
Philip Pullman's Daemon
 
This is a video clip
Giles Cadle
 

 
 

Daemons

Imagine sharing your every waking moment with an animal companion spirit - a daemon. This idea is one of the most intriguing in a book packed with extraordinary imaginings. Each of the characters in Lyra’s world has a daemon - a constant external expression of their soul - from which they are only separated at death. To have a daemon is a defining point of being human. This is what makes the experiments to separate children from their daemons at Bolvangar so barbaric.

It is impossible to think of His Dark Materials without the daemons: the fixed daemons of the adults and the ever-changing ones of the children. For an adaptation they present an enormous challenge. While a film can use computer graphics, the theatrical team has to make daemons that the audience can believe in. Here you can explore the choices they had to make and the difficulties they had to overcome.

Set designer Giles Cadle talks about the initial challenge and the thought that puppets might be the answer. This led the team to the stage version of The Lion King, the puppets for which were designed by Michael Curry. When the National team told Curry what they wanted, he produced initial designs. These daemons come in a variety of forms: some to be held and operated by the actors, others by puppeteers. Ben Wright describes what he had to learn in operating the golden monkey daemon belonging to Mrs Coulter. Ben and Patricia Hodge, who plays Mrs Coulter, describe the challenge of making their character and daemon work together. Danny Sapani describes how it feels acting with daemons

… and you can also find out what form Philip Pullman's daemon would take and why she would be the kind of bird that steals bright things.

 

From the National Theatre
His Dark Materials
Go
 
People
Ben_Wright Ben Wright
Actor
Philip_Pullman Philip Pullman
Novelist
Jon_Morrell Jon Morrell
Costume Designer
Patricia_Hodge Patricia Hodge
Actor
Issues
Beyond The Book
Faith Truth And Blasphemy
Connections: Costume Design | Alethiometer | Costume Fitting