Hobbit Play

[Shadowfax]

Hey everyone! Ijust found out that my old middle school is doing "The Hobbit" for it's annual play next year, and the director (an old family friend) has asked me to help write the script, make the costumes, design the set...etc! WOOOHOOOOOOOOOOoooooo.......! *does the hyper coffee high dance* so, any suggestions? When it comes out next year, I will see if I can post the video. What absolutley HAS to be included? heeheeheehee *hyperventilates and passes out*

[BelDain]

Have Arwen save the Dwarves and Mr. Bilbo Baggins from the great Goblin instead of Gandalf!

[Eledhwen]

Then you have to check out this web page (in fact, EVERYONE who has ANY interest in the Hobbit at all should do this).

http://genedeitch.awn.com/index.php3?ltype=chapter&chapter=22&page=1

You can then contact the guy, ask for his 12 minute screenplay and adapt it for the stage. Job done!

[Gandalf_White]

I was in the play of The Hobbit last summer I still have my script. If you want me to e-mail it to you I can. Hope this helps.

[Shadowfax]

That would be really cool. I am also looking for costume ideas, you know, what era would the clothes be from, that sort of thing.

[Eledhwen]

Colours of costumes of Hobbits and Dwarves are clearly described in The Hobbit, and tend to be children's-story-bright. If you want to go for a Lord of the Rings treatment, you will have to go for more earthy colours. The general flow seems to be to be Arthurian (swords, chain mail, horses etc), though you have more freedom in The Hobbit than in LotR because the cultures of Gondor and Rohan don't need to be taken into consideration. Hobbiton, however, seems to have been beamed down from the 18th century (the Industrial Revolution comes with Saruman/Sharkey).

[Hirila]

As for the part in mirkwood (I guess it's in the play, too) I would just darken stage and let that be. A small path could be lighted but the rest should be dark. Should look quite creepy.

[Gloer]

Yeasterday I saw a ballet that was "loosely based on" the Hobbit. Actually it was great and accurate.

Since there was no narration or dialogue everything was expressed by dancing, body language and the stage.

The plot was followed but Bard joined the Dwarves to go and slay the Dragon in the mountain after he is cast out from the lake town. It would have been quite complicated to switch the scene, I guess. Still I think they could/should have shown Smaug in action scaring those laketown people. Instead there was a prologue "dance" in which flames and falling stones were projected on a smokey see-through canvas. The dwarves were escaping Erebor behind the canvas. The effect was quite good and gave an exiting backgroud to the dwarves meeting at Bilbo's hobbit hole. It really gave a feeling of a terrible and mysterious desaster that hit the dwarves some time ago.

Also the wargs were quite nice: they had very gleaming yellow eyes and grey fur on back. Very effective on a dark stage with correct lighting. There was no real need for any wolve-masks... the eyes was all you saw, scary!

The elves looked like Legolas on the movie FotR. Well, he was quite suitable for a ballet role anyways, walking lightly on snow and all...

THE DRAGON. I was wondering how they portray the huge dragon on the treasure. It would be hard to do believably. The solution was that they didn't! And it was quite good. In the prologue we saw a snapshot of Dragon projected flying across the canvas and immidiately creating flames. So we know that there is a huge threathening dragon there. Then when we reach Smaug's lair we are shown only a huge eye trying to see the invisible Bilbo. The eye is projected (video cannon).The effect was quite good. What you don't see is more frightening than what you see...

The spiders were hanging from the seiling. Huge puppets, but easy to get believable since there is no need to hide the ropes.

Gollum: gollum was very good. I think it was because he had froglike hands and feet and very slimy dancing choreogrphy (dancers dream character?) so movements could be the key on the theather stage too?

The dwarves were much more gnomish than what they should have been. I think they used the masks from some earlier Wagner-production. My girlfriend who didn't know the story was not quite sure if Bilbo's home was under an evil invasion or were they invited...But then you got used to it.

The Orcs looked quite different. They actually had straight horned helmets on that reminded me of those monty python's terrifying knight's that say Ni. :-) Well they came out good because they were covered in armor, blackened faces and dark rags. Comparison to middle-age clothes work by the dwarves was clear: evil is armored. BTW: dwarves never had any armor or helmets on. (I never understand how thos D&D dwarves always see to be fully armed and armored?)

The production was made in the National Opera ballet of Finland and the dancers were young ballet students, no stars. Still everyone was quite rofessional.

http://www.operafin.fi/2001/Englanti/index.html

[Gloer]

The Opera ballet of Hobbit is licensed by the same fellow who owned the filming rights for the book LotR. He seems to also have bought the rights for stage production:

"Based on the book by J.R.R. Tolkien. Produced with the permission of and under license from
The Saul Zaentz Company dba Tolkien Enterprises, Berkeley, CA. THE HOBBIT and all characters
and places are trademark properties of Tolkien Enterprises. "

Are you licensed too?

[Theoden]

Originally posted by BelDain
Have Arwen save the Dwarves and Mr. Bilbo Baggins from the great Goblin instead of Gandalf!

Oh my... I laughed so hard at this!
HEHEHHEHEHEHE

-me

[Elu Thingol]

Too bad you can't digitally shorten the people who are playing the hobbits:D

[Gandalf_White]

Yeah too bad there is not a way to shorten people. In the play I was in half the dwarves were short. But the other half were over 5 feet. (including me)

[CyberGhostface]

Make Bilbo go to jail for stealing Gollum's ring!

[Gandalf_White]

Ha Ha very funny! :D :D Bilbo deserved to go to jail.;)

[FINGOLFIN]

There are actually at least two play versions of the Hobbit already written. A short version for a limited number of people and a larger version for a full cast.

Pictures are available at my site in the Tolkien collectibles archive section.

Look in books not written by Tolkien. I think they are there. I could be wrong. Anyway...