The Hobbit Play - Authorized by Tolkien - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

littlemanpoet · 09-12-2015, 11:04 AM

Last night I saw "The Hobbit" as a play. The title page said that it was Authorized by J.R.R. Tolkien.

It did include:

the Dwarves at Bag End
The Trolls
Fight with Goblins in the Mountains
Riddles in the Dark
Mirkwood travels
Elf party & following imprisonment
Key in the hole at the Lonely Mountain
Bilbo and Smaug's dialogue
Elves and Dwarves contending for the treasure
Gandalf sometimes present sometimes absent
the death of Smaug
Bilbo goes home with treasure & newfound wisdom ... and the Ring

It did not include:

Rivendel
Elrond
Beorn
Laketown
Bard and his arrow
The Battle of Five Armies
The Arkenstone
The death of Thorin

What struck me as odd was:

the Dwarves knew about the ring in Mirkwood already
The Elves and Dwarves contended at the door to the Lonely Mountain and forged an agreement there to split the treasure justly
Thorin kills Smaug with an Elven sword given to him by the Queen of the Elves

Well, it left me cold. It is known that Tolkien's opinion of stage productions of literary works was not high. Yet he authorized this version.

I suppose you have to see it to really appreciate the differences. And, I suppose, that if there's going to be a play, on a stage, with really limited props and stage effects, you can't have a battle and you can't have a dragon flying. And you don't have time to do justice to all of the nuances in the book. Was this the best that could be done for a play? Probably. Worth seeing? Not sure. The characterization was actually quite good, Bombur practically stole the show.

There is, however, one thing that grates on my nerves. The actor who played Gollum too, the Andy Serkas template and swallowed all his words so you couldn't understand much at all. Very disappointing.

09-12-2015, 11:04 AM	#1
littlemanpoet Itinerant Songster Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Edge of Faerie Posts: 7,066	The Hobbit Play - Authorized by Tolkien Last night I saw "The Hobbit" as a play. The title page said that it was Authorized by J.R.R. Tolkien. It did include: the Dwarves at Bag End The Trolls Fight with Goblins in the Mountains Riddles in the Dark Mirkwood travels Elf party & following imprisonment Key in the hole at the Lonely Mountain Bilbo and Smaug's dialogue Elves and Dwarves contending for the treasure Gandalf sometimes present sometimes absent the death of Smaug Bilbo goes home with treasure & newfound wisdom ... and the Ring It did not include: Rivendel Elrond Beorn Laketown Bard and his arrow The Battle of Five Armies The Arkenstone The death of Thorin What struck me as odd was: the Dwarves knew about the ring in Mirkwood already The Elves and Dwarves contended at the door to the Lonely Mountain and forged an agreement there to split the treasure justly Thorin kills Smaug with an Elven sword given to him by the Queen of the Elves Well, it left me cold. It is known that Tolkien's opinion of stage productions of literary works was not high. Yet he authorized this version. I suppose you have to see it to really appreciate the differences. And, I suppose, that if there's going to be a play, on a stage, with really limited props and stage effects, you can't have a battle and you can't have a dragon flying. And you don't have time to do justice to all of the nuances in the book. Was this the best that could be done for a play? Probably. Worth seeing? Not sure. The characterization was actually quite good, Bombur practically stole the show. There is, however, one thing that grates on my nerves. The actor who played Gollum too, the Andy Serkas template and swallowed all his words so you couldn't understand much at all. Very disappointing. Last edited by littlemanpoet; 09-12-2015 at 07:59 PM.