Tolkien the Playwright: Manuscript Revisions and Faërian Dramas in "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth"

Authors

Anna Smol, Mount Saint Vincent UniversityFollow

Abstract

Tolkien is not usually considered a playwright, even though his verse drama, “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son,” is a unique example of the genre. It is Tolkien’s only published play and historical fiction, as well as a unique poetic - dramatic genre, a modern alliterative verse play, which Tolkien developed over many years in numerous drafts, now held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford and the Brotherton Library in Leeds. These manuscript drafts allow us to trace Tolkien’s stage directions, which reveal that he imagined this to be a play for presentation on stage. This essay examines Tolkien’s statements on and experiences of drama, and traces the revisions in the manuscripts, in Tolkien’s personal recording of the play, and considers possible revisions in the BBC Radio broadcast, with the aim of demonstrating different modes of dramatic presentation, including faërian dramas affecting characters and audiences alike.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

ORCID ID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8395-789X