Nicholas Hytner
In January 2004 Robert Butler, author of The Art of Darkness, (Oberon Books), interviewed National Theatre Director Nicholas Hytner about his experience as director of the staging of Philip Pullman’s epic trilogy His Dark Materials. The event took place on the National Theatre’s Olivier stage before an audience.In a wide ranging conversation they discussed the challenges of adapting what some thought was an unstageable trilogy of novels into two major theatre productions. Nicholas Hytner explained how he assembled the creative team, and the workshop process from which the narrative form of the plays, and the key design decisions, including the use of puppets to depict the daemons, emerged. He also examined the issues which arise when you cast actors in their early 20s to play twelve year-olds, and talked about the extent of author Philip Pullman’s involvement in the creative process. He related the experience of the technical rehearsal where he learnt that the first play was running over length by two hours, and how the plays were received by a young audience. The event closed with questions from the audience. To view the conversation click on the links. You can go straight to the topic which interests you, or watch it in sequence. | 
