A dream to keep all children safe

MY LITTLE granddaughter was the Second Innkeeper at her nursery’s Nativity drama, crisply informing Mary and Joseph that there was absolutely no room for them in the inn

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I’VE been to London’s Bridge Theatre to see a staging of Philip Pullman’s The Book Of Dust – La Belle Sauvage. It’s set 12 years before the His Dark Materials trilogy when heroine Lyra is still a baby. I’ve never really got into these books in a big way but it was a wonderful production with amazing light effects creating a very believable flood through which young protagonist Malcolm’s canoe bobs and swirls.

But the true star of the show was the baby playing Lyra. Usually in the theatre a baby is a squishy oblong prop with a shawl wrapped around it. But… what was this? …a real baby! A dear little baby with dear little hands and a dear little face in a white babygro.There was an audible coo from the audience every time she made an appearance. She upstaged everyone. And when Lord Asriel (played by John Light) held her for a moment she wailed exactly on cue. Clever baby!

On the way out of the theatre I saw the talented infant being pushed home in her pram. I nearly asked her for an autograph.