THEATRE REVIEW

NOVEMBER 2024 | Volume 245

 

A couple of decades ago, Charlie Ross used to come through town with his one-man theatrical distillations of epic blockbusters. They included the Star Wars trilogy and The Lord of the Rings, movies that everyone had seen. He’d reduce them to an hour and play all the parts himself, including the fights, without props, costumes, lights or recorded sound. He’d improvise some comic gags but mostly wow us with his quick transitions and ability to evoke the essence of a character or scene with just a few names, familiar lines, and his sharp, witty physicality. These were not so much parodies as homages.

Pacific Theatre’s production of Tolkien’s The Hobbit, newly adapted by Kim Selody and directed by Laura McLean, accomplishes something similar, but in two acts with two actors and plenty of props, set pieces, lighting effects and sound. Tolkien’s prequel to his Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit is a mythic adventure novel aimed at young readers. It introduces many of the principal characters who will appear in LOTR, but lacks the gravitas of that magisterial work. 

In Selody’s adaptation actors Tim Carlson and Peter Carlone playfully reconstruct The Hobbit on Alaia Hamer’s busy living room set. Carlone appears in costume (credit Stephanie Kong) as the dwarf Thorin and assigns slightly nerdy Carlson the part of reluctant young hobbit Bilbo Baggins. They will journey through Middle Earth to the abode of the dragon Smaug on a quest to reclaim the dwarves’ ancestral treasure.

Along the way, accompanied by the wizard Gandalf (sometimes a recorded voice, sometimes Carlone from an onstage microphone), they survive attacks by trolls, goblins and a huge spider. They meet elves, giant eagles and men.Inthe climactic epic battle, not everyone survives.

Although some plot points are confusing, especially if you haven’t read or seen Tolkien’s work recently, the play does capture the gist of the Hobbit story and hint at the deeper, more powerful Rings story to come. But the essence of the production is the cleverness and fun with which the actors and stage transform from one moment to the next to drive the narrative forward.

Carlonetakes shot glasses and toys from a bookcase to represent Thorin’s fellow dwarves, each of whom has a distinct identity and personality. Carlson straddles the back of a couch as the elf king, gently riding his steed. Both actors transform to goblins with just a rubber band across their faces, and a sheet or blanket pulled from a drawer becomes an instant costume. In one of my favourite moments the actors scramble around a small Christmas tree, crying, “Is there no end to this accursed forest?!”

Director McLean has them cleverlyuse all of the set and props, and they seem free to improvise commentary at will, some of which was very funny on opening night. MJ Coomber’s sound design and Jonathan Kim’s lighting help immensely to populate the stage and shape the journey.

I enjoyed the show a lot, although at times it lives uncomfortably somewhere between young people’s theatre and adult comedy/drama.

 

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