Philip Pullman sets The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage 12 years before his epic His Dark Materials trilogy. 

Two young people and their dæmons, with everything at stake, find themselves at the centre of a terrifying manhunt. In their care is a tiny child called Lyra Belacqua, and in that child lies the fate of the future. And as the waters rise around them, powerful adversaries conspire for mastery of Dust: salvation to some, the source of infinite corruption to others. 

Eighteen years after his ground breaking production of His Dark Materials at the National Theatre, Nicholas Hytner returned to Pullman’s parallel universe to direct a gripping adaptation by Bryony Lavery.

The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage was broadcast by National Theatre Live on 17 February 2022.

Watch The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage on NT at Home

The Bridge, London

30 November 2021 – 26 February 2022

Writer Philip Pullman 

Adapted by Bryony Lavery 

Director Nicholas Hytner 

Co-Director Emily Burns 

Co-Director James Cousins 

Designer Bob Crowley 

Puppet Designer and Director Barnaby Dixon 

Video Designer Luke Halls 

Lighting Designer Jon Clark 

Sound Designer Paul Arditti 

Composer Grant Olding 

Movement Director James Cousins 

Fight Director Kate Waters 

Illusions Director Filipe J. Carvalho