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Leaf by Niggle comes to Oxonmoot
Leaf by Niggle, April 2016, Puppet State Theatre Company
Leaf by Niggle, April 2016, Puppet State Theatre Company

There will be an exclusive performance of Puppet State Theatre’s stage production of Leaf by Niggle during Oxonmoot, The Tolkien Society’s annual gathering in Oxford, on the evening of Saturday 10th September.

The show has been touring Scotland since it premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre Studio on Thursday 14th April, and has received high praise from the critics.

This storytelling show, created and performed by Richard Medrington, draws on Richard’s personal family history as an introduction to Tolkien’s original story. Surrounded by ladders, bicycles and heirlooms, Richard recounts Tolkien’s miniature masterpiece with a soundtrack composed by Karine Polwart and Michael John McCarthy.

Written in 1938-9, and first published in 1945, Leaf by Niggle recounts the story of Niggle struggling to finish his grand painting of a tree. The story is often said to be an allegorical, or even autobiographical, telling of Tolkien’s own creative processes. In a letter, Tolkien said: “I tried to show allegorically how [subcreation] might come to be taken up into Creation in some plane in my ‘purgatorial’ story Leaf by Niggle.”

Oxonmoot 2016 will be held at St Antony’s College Oxford from Thursday 8th through to Sunday 11th September. The performance will start at 20.00 on the Saturday and is exclusive to Oxonmoot delegates. Day tickets are also available for £30.

Book now to secure your place.

Leaf by Niggle, April 2016, Puppet State Theatre Company
Leaf by Niggle, April 2016, Puppet State Theatre Company
About the Author: Daniel Helen
Daniel is an Officer without Portfolio and Trustee of The Tolkien Society. Elected in 2014, he is mainly responsible for the Society's digital operations, including this website.