Richard Medrington harnesses the venerable art of storytelling and steers a gentle path through Tolkien’s strange and beautiful Leaf By Niggle.
Niggle is a man who wants nothing more than the peace and uninterrupted quiet he needs to finish his painting. It began with one leaf, delicately and intricately defined. But one leaf led to another, and now there is a tree - and beyond it, through its leaves, Niggle glimpses other worlds in the distance that will require more of the same, painstaking attention to every exquisite detail.
But he has the sort of kind heart that bothers him if he doesn’t stop to help a neighbour in trouble, and he knows that soon he must go on a journey that he has no wish to take and he frets that – what with one thing and another – he’ll never get his painting finished. And to disappoint him further, no-one in his province sees painting as proper work or values it in any way at all.
Sitting at an old card-table playing a game of Patience, surrounded by heirlooms with a history and a personal meaning – as well as an old bicycle and a rickety ladder – Medrington waits for the audience. There’s then a bit of preamble that explains all about the knick-knacks and his journey to get this Niggle to the stage, which seamlessly segues into the story itself. With a benign grace and tenderness that those familiar with his internationally acclaimed The Man Who Planted Trees will recognise and savour, Medrington walks us through Tolkien’s tale at a comfortable and leisurely pace.
With Medrington’s fireside manner and an atmospheric soundtrack by Karine Polwart and Michael John McCarthy, all under the careful direction of Edinburgh’s master storyteller Andy Cannon, Leaf By Niggle shines with style.