Can o' worms...

[Bêthberry]

The axe has fallen: Hobbit casting agent fired. This is New Zealand, after all.

Originally Posted by davem

The Globe thing sounds a bit odd to me. I would have noticed & it would have distracted me.

Yet my son, when I queried him about the production, couldn't recall her race at all but did remember the production. As with all theatre, every patron has his and her own responses.

Why do it except to show everybody how you're not 'racist' & above such 'trivialities' as skin colour

The Non-traditional Casting Project is almost 25 years old, so it's really a bit old hat. As the link I give above suggests, it is about ensuring you have the best actor available for the role and not simply the best (pale) actor.

I think it would be very interesting to see a stage production where Gandalf is played by a female--a woman told she cannot use all her powers!--and Galadriel by a male. Might not be canonical, but would still be interesting. I saw a superb production of The Hobbit years ago at a children's theatre where, surprisingly, Gollem was played by a human and not a computer generated image. Amazingly fantastic! It's a sage reminder of the power of human skill and talent to reach out to our imaginations.