And such is the scale of the story that the company is splitting it in half, and showing it in two parts on consecutive weeks! Based on Philip Pullman's best-selling trilogy, His Dark Materials, this adaptation by Nicholas Wright, squishes the three parts into two plays. Ann Garner, artistic director of the Next Stage Theatre Company explained: "His Dark Materials is the most ambitious production Next Stage has undertaken in its 13 years of bringing quality productions to Bath and Bristol audiences. "And it's also the first time the plays have been performed in this area outside of London. "We tour the show to The Minack Theatre in Cornwall in August when 70+ actors, crew and helpers from Bath and Bristol will all be making their way to Lands End!" Bath stage But the show opens at The Mission Theatre in Bath's Corn Street in July, with a cast of 30, stunning costumes and masks, an original musical score, and special effects and lighting designed for the fast-moving and complex plot. His Dark Materials is essentially an adventure story in which the leading characters, Lyra and Will, meet as young teenagers from different worlds. Lyra, the daughter of Lord Asriel, is on a journey beyond her wildest imaginings, while Will, from our world, is seeking his lost father.
Driven on by unseen powers, the two young people join forces against the malevolent inhabitants they encounter - soul-eating spectres, child-catching gobblers, a manipulative mother, a megalomaniac father and a corrupt church. His Dark Materials has previously been dramatised on BBC Radio 4 and was a sell-out when it appeared on stage at the National in London's West End. It's also due at a cinema near you at the beginning of December when His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass - the first part of Pullman's trilogy - is expected to be released by New Line Cinema, the people who brought you Lord of the Rings, in a film starring Nicole Kidman and new James Bond, Daniel Craig. So, if you're a fan of the books, or want to catch the story before the cinema release, here are the details: His Dark Materials Part 1 can be seen from Wednesday 4th to Saturday, 7 July at 7.30pm and Saturday, 14 July at 2.30pm. And Part 2 runs from Wednesday 11th to Saturday, 14 July 2007 at 7.30pm. Which means you can either catch the two parts on consecutive weeks, or, for those with a more solid posterior catch both parts on Saturday, 14 July. Performances take place at The Mission Theatre, 32 Corn Street, Bath and tickets which are £9 /£7( concs) or £15/£12 if booking for both shows, are available from Next Stage Box Office on 01225 428600, e-mail nextstagebath@aol.com. | 
