THINK of Tolkien and immediately your head is full of brave hobbits and warring elves, tortuous quests and strange lands.

But one of his little-known works, a short story called by Leaf by Niggle, is a much less-fantastical affair.

Considered to be the author’s most autobiographical work, springing from his fear of not finishing the Lord of the Rings, it has been turned into a stage play for the very first time.

After its world premiere in Edinburgh earlier this month, it comes to Glasgow this week, complete with a soundtrack by Scots singer-songwriter Karine Polwart.

Richard Medrington, artistic director of Edinburgh-based Puppet State Theatre, has wanted to perform Leaf by Niggle for more than 20 years, so he is delighted to have been given the go-ahead, finally, by the Tolkien Trust.

“When I asked them before, they felt it wasn’t appropriate for puppets and as there are now no puppets in it, they were probably right,” smiles Richard.

“Ever since I read the story, I have wanted to perform it. What I love about it is that you never quite get to the bottom of it. Is it about life? Death? Creativity? It’s a slippery fish.

What is certain is that Leaf by Niggle recognises the struggle of an artist to be productive and creative while balancing the day to day necessities of existence.

It was written when Tolkien was struggling to finish the epic trilogy, Lord of the Rings.

In 1939, as war clouds were darkening, he woke up one morning with the story almost complete in his mind, and wrote it down.

Niggle is a struggling artist who is trying to complete his magnum opus, a painting of a curious tree. He isn’t sure when he will need to set out on his journey, but he is worried that he won’t be able to finish the painting before it’s time to leave.

Often seen as an allegory of Tolkien's own creative process, and, to an extent, of his life, it is a tale of transformation, which examines the relationship between an artist, his creation and his community.

Leaf by Niggle will draw on objects and heirlooms from Richard's personal family history as an introduction to the story.

“Tolkien fought at the Somme and my grandfather was wounded there, so there was a link between our histories which I thought would be interesting to explore,” says Richard.

“This was a generation who had survived the first war and were now heading into the second one, so there was a real sense of whether they would live to see it through.”

Richard, who has spent the last nine years touring the world with Puppet State Theatre’s much lauded production of Jean Giono’s The Man Who Planted Trees, first started performing in street theatre in the late 70s and early 80s.

After performing his one-man puppet shows for 20 years he joined forces with puppeteer Rick Conte and puppeteer and maker Ailie Cohen in 2006.

A big fan of Karine Polwart, Richard was delighted when she agreed to take part in Leaf by Niggle and she, in return, says it has been a ‘challenge and a joy’.

Karine explains: “Niggle’s journey, and Richard Medrington’s beautifully personal and familial framing of it, feels quite close to the bone for me, and very relevant to our times.

“There are so many possible ways to receive it and get inside of it, as there are always with deep stories.

“But to me it’s about the fundamental human impulse to create and find meaning and beauty in life, and how duty, convention and the sheer necessity of toil can cut against this.

“The gap between the world as we imagine it and the world as it sometimes is - in all its reductive, mechanistic brutality - can be hard to hold in a single heart. But Niggle’s story feels hopeful nonetheless”.

Richard agrees: “Since I first read Leaf by Niggle I have had this urge to share it. The story seems to offer different things each time I come to it, changing like the weather. Unlike most of Tolkien's stories, there are no wizards or elves, but it's a little bit magical all the same.”

Leaf by Niggle is at the Tron Theatre on Friday and Saturday (April 29 and 30).