You may know Charlie Ross from his critically acclaimed solo show, One Man Star Wars Trilogy in which the actor/comedian re-enacted the entire series in a little over an hour. His return to this year’s MICF sees the Canadian-born performer tackle another trilogy in the form of One Man Lord of the Rings; a mad, hilarious, frantic almost schizophrenic adaptation of voice and physical impersonations where he’ll play the part of Frodo, Gandalf, and Gollum – just to name a few.
Tell us a little bit about One Man Lord Of The Rings?
“Well, it’s the LOTR trilogy of films, condensed into 70 minutes, and performed by me- using no props, sets, costumes, or talent.”
What was it about the Lord of the Rings that you liked so much?
“I had read the books when I was a kid and really identified with Frodo – the fact that we sometimes have to bear responsibility that we’ve never done so before. It’s like growing up, we rarely know what’s waiting for us around the bend, there’s simply the inevitability of the road that we must travel.”
With such an intricate storyline, how did you go about deciding which scenes to re-enact?
“I honestly wrote down what I could remember off the top of my head. Rather than sitting down in front of the TV/DVD pressing stop, writing something down, pressing play, and repeating – I thought that my limited memory would do most of the editorial work for me.”
How did the idea of tackling epic tales in a one-man show start off?
“It started as a shits and giggles project – essentially as a comedy sketch. I never thought it would take on such a life of its own. My first one-person movie show was based on the original Star Wars trilogy – after my sketch took off I expanded it into an hour-long show – the LOTR just seemed like a natural sequel for me.”
Who else do you impersonate? Do you have any favorites?
“Kermit The Frog and many of the Muppets, other people you may or may not know. I love doing sound effects too. Sometimes the sound effects are exceptionally commonplace things too. This may sound odd: but I’ve never been able to do a convincing toilet flush. This is hardly a national tragedy, but I’ve always wanted to be able to do one. Maybe someday… To dream the impossible dream.”
Since you play so many characters on stage, how much of the dialogues are improvised? Or are they mostly set in stone?
“The movie dialogue, edited into my “script”, stays fairly much set in stone. As this is a one-person show however, I reserve the right to improvise and do pretty much whatever the hell I want during my performance.”
Charlie Ross performs One Man Lord Of The Rings at The Arts Centre Playhouse on April 9 and 10. Tickets are $28 – $59 and you can book through Ticketmaster online and 1300 660 013 or through The Arts Centre: theartscentre.com.au or 1300 182 183. Tickets will also be available on the door.
