The daytime lectures and presentations will be showing up in discussions on the forum - davem started
Galadhremmin Ennorath a few days ago, and I posted
"Not all those who wander are lost." today. I'd like to tell about the dramas that were presented - well, at least those that I saw, which were all but the Farmer Giles play.
The Reduced Silmarillion Company presented - well, the reduced Silmarillion, of course! It was a hilarious compilation of facts and fiction from the Legendarium, mostly involving Elves that begin with "F". It's nothing that can be told about, has to be seen, and was great fun.
The Tolkien group from Greece presented two tragedies - the story of Túrin and the myth of Oedipus, one act each. The stories have some remarkable similarities, and seeing them one right after the other showed that connection quite clearly. The actors (all amateurs, of course) did an excellent job; the fates of the characters were moving to those who watched.
Another parody presentation was "The Lord of the Goons", by the Cambridge Tolkien Society, whose members are apparently very active in dramatizations. I wasn't familiar with the original "Goons", but even so, it was very funny and got many laughs and much applause.
One of the highlights of the event was the presentation of the BBC dramatization of the LotR by the Cambridge group. Various members read the different roles in selected scenes for two hours on Sunday morning, and although there were other lectures during that time, I decided that I'd heard so much
about LotR that I wanted to hear the words themselves speak to me. It was a wonderful experience. There were funny passages, with a fantastic voice for Gollum, for example. But there were also very moving passages, and by the time Sam said "Well, I'm back!" at the end, I was not the only listener wiping surreptitious tears away. (At least, so I was told - I couldn't see anything at that point!
)
There was no acting, aside from the fact that the speakers really got into their characters, but hearing the LotR being read aloud reminded me that it is a wonderfully oral tale. I remembered live readings on voice chat a couple of years ago and found myself wishing that there were someone to read aloud with at home...