The Lord of the Rings
March 28th, 2008, 4:14 pm Hobbies Ideas
It%26rsquo;s finally here %26ndash; the year%26rsquo;s most anticipated theatrical opening, costing
%26pound;12.5 million and heralded by high hopes on one hand and prophecies of doom
on the other. When I saw Matthew Warchus%26rsquo;s production in Toronto last year,
I was dazzled and delighted by its ingenuity and visual invention. I was
also frustrated by its slower, muddier passages, unimpressed by some key
performances and deeply disappointed by its bungled climax.
Happily, almost everything that was wrong has been put right. Some will prefer
the slick grandiosity of Peter Jackson%26rsquo;s films; others will sneer at the
very idea of singing hobbits. It%26rsquo;s their loss. Warchus and his team have a
created a brave, stirring, epic piece of popular theatre that, without
slavishly adhering to J.R.R. Tolkien%26rsquo;s novels, embraces their spirit. The
show has charm, wit, and jaw-dropping theatrical brio; crucially, it also
has real emotional heft.
Warchus%26rsquo;s and Shaun McKenna%26rsquo;s book has been streamlined, but at more than
three hours the show is still long %26ndash; yet it doesn%26rsquo;t outstay its welcome. Rob
Howell%26rsquo;s stunning tree-roots design stretches out into the auditorium, and
performers, too, spill from the stage, creating a fantastical environment
that draws you in and grips you from beginning to end. Hobbits chase
fireflies along the aisles; screeching, leather-clad orcs not only leap and
somersault, on springed shoes, across the stage%26rsquo;s multiple revolving levels,
but, startlingly, loom over unwary spectators. Frodo puts on the ring and
vanishes before your eyes. Huge black riders and a hideously hairy giant
spider, conjured through adroit puppetry and brilliantly lit by Paul Pyant,
become creatures of genuine terror.
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