The Art of Darkness

Philip Pullmans award-winning trilogy His Dark Materials had everything Nicholas Hytner, the new director of the National Theatre, could want for a modern audience, but for one thing: it was almost impossible to stage. Robert Butlers intimate backstage account takes us into the meetings, workshops and rehearsals where, over six months, Pullmans 1300-page novelabout daemons, armored bears and parallel universeswas transformed into six hours of drama.