Furze Platt pupils bring His Dark Materials to life

Young actors from Furze Platt Senior School have made an ambitious attempt to recreate a play by author Philip Pullman.

Based on the His Dark Materials fantasy trilogy, the play was first staged at the National Theatre in 2003.

Sixty students from year 9 to year 13 have been working for five months to prepare for the production – adapted by Nicholas Wright.

Anna Bradley, head of drama, said: “We knew that it would be a difficult play to pull off but we were confident that our students were up to the challenge.”

It is an epic play in its entirety, with a five-hour running time, 27 locations spanning numerous worlds, and a merging of the human and animal kingdoms.

Anna added: “We decided five hours was a bit optimistic so are just performing part one.”

The challenging production included constructing an entire daemon puppet collection, a life-sized snow leopard and staging an armoured bear fight.

Anna said: “Producing this play has been an adventure and has definitely tested the drama department but it has been a thoroughly exciting experience and a pleasure to work with such a dedicated cast.”

The show has been running at the school all week and finishes tonight (Thursday).