One Minute World Arts- A Stage Work of Fantasy- The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage

His Dark Materials, a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman, has become an international hit since its first, The Golden Compass, was published in 1995. The story was successfully transformed into a stage production back in 2003 by director Nicolas Hytner and presented at the Olivier Theatre of London’s National Theatre. In 2017, Pullman published La Belle Sauvage, the first book of another trilogy entitled The Book of Dust. Its story is set 12 years before The Golden Compass, aiming to give the readers a bigger picture of the universe Pullman had created.

Earlier this year, La Belle Sauvage was made into a theatre piece, adapted by playwright Bryony Lavery and directed, once again, by Hytner himself. In this production, one of the most amazing features is that the newborn Lyra Belacqua, the heroine of Pullman’s series, is set to be “played” by a real and unbelievably well-behaved baby, whose presence will certainly heighten the audience’s emotional responses. In addition, the daemons on stage are actually puppets, designed and directed by Barnaby Dixon, that would glow from within like luminous origami. Hytner’s production of La Belle Sauvage can now be seen at London’s Bridge Theatre, and will continue its run till February 2022. It will also be livestreamed by NT Live on February 17, 2022.

奇幻舞台之作： 塵之書首部曲- 野美人號 (The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage)

英國作家菲力普．普曼(Philip Pullman)著名的幻奇小說《#黑暗元素》(His Dark Materials)三部曲，自其首部曲《#黃金羅盤》於1995年出版以來，便廣受全球書迷的喜愛。2003年，這部作品首度被改編成 #舞台劇，由時任 #倫敦國家劇院 藝術總監的尼可拉斯．海納(Nicolas Hytner)執導，並在自家劇院內的 #奧利維耶廳 演出，引起廣大迴響。2017年，普曼再接再厲，推出另一系列《#塵之書》(The Book of Dust)三部曲的首部曲《#野美人號》(La Belle Sauvage)，將其時空背景設定在《黃金羅盤》故事開展的12年前，意圖更加深入地去描摹他一手打造出來的奇幻世界。

今年，《野美人號》由編劇布萊昂尼．拉佛里(Bryony Lavery)改編成舞台劇，並且再次邀得海納擔綱執導。劇場版中勢必讓觀眾大開眼界的安排之一，莫過於故事主人翁萊拉．貝拉克(Lyra Belacqua)出生未久的強褓階段，將由一名如假包換、配合度高到令人難以置信的小嬰兒親自「上陣演出」；如此一來，觀眾的反應也更能隨之真情流露，從而提升舞臺上下的臨場感。此外，劇中的「#守護精靈」，則是由 #戲偶專家 巴納比．迪克森(Barnaby Dixon)所設計、指導及編排的；藉由他的巧思，這些精靈戲偶看起來宛如內部透光的 #摺紙藝術品，一個個栩栩如生地在觀眾眼前活靈活現。本劇目前正於倫敦 #布里吉劇院(Bridge Theatre）上演，檔期到明年2月結束，另外也會在2月17日那天，於「#英國國家劇院現場」(NT Live)串流平台播出。

Sources: https://npacntt.tw/n16hyife 、https://npacntt.tw/n16ruQvf