One Man Lord of the Rings
Wednesday, Dec 10 at 8pm
One Man Star Wars
Thursday, Dec 11 at 8pm
Metro Theatre
1411 Quadra
Actor, performer, Charles Ross is more than just a one-man virtuoso. He’s a master storyteller, a bard and a vocal talent that audiences frequently find enjoyable when they go to see his one-man plays. In December, he will be returning to Victoria, British Columbia – the city that he made his home – and be performing Star Wars and Lord of the Rings just as The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies is about to release. The dates many Victorians will have to mark on the calendar is December 10th and 11th. 2014 when it plays at the Metro.
But with many years of touring and love from all around the world, he’s showing no signs of slowing down. The energy that he puts into each of his shows is phenomenal. He knows how to keep the material fresh because, quite simply, “They are just big two films that really resonate with me,” said Charles Ross.
He also identifies with the bards of yesteryear. Not only are they paid to be history keepers but also they are exceptional storytellers. They have in their collective repertoire a massive knowledge of myth, poetry and song.
“For as long as they’ve been around, they’ve become the basis for the one-man show,” revealed Ross. “What the story comes down to fundamentally is a disenfranchised person who’s least able to affect much change in his station in life. Like Frodo, a guy that lives in the Shire, or Skywalker, a kid from a farm on the planet Tatooine, adventure comes to their front door. It whisks them away.”
Almost like his own life, Ross took a chance when moving to the East Coast, where his wife was finishing off her Arts degree. The adventure for him was to test his meddle, and gain the experience he needed on stage before he could pen the one-man shows. And even then, it wasn’t with some trepidation.
He wrote the script on the basis of which parts from each trilogy are fondly remembered. In Lord of the Rings, it’s in nailing the voice of Gollum down so audiences can identify with the movie. In Star Wars, it’s all about Yoda. With a new trilogy making its rounds, and ever since Clone Wars, some fans started to complain about overkill.
“The weird thing about television or film is that if things go just a bit well, you’ll get the publicity machine behind it. They can hype it up so much that people will get sick of it pretty quickly — myself included,” noted Ross.
“It’s not like watching a video,” says Ross, “If you watch a copy of it on video, you won’t find it as fresh. I would hate to have people be sick of me or I promise something that can’t be delivered. And when you hear me interjecting, that’s improvising.”
To get something new, interacting with the audience is important. Often they would ask what’s in store for the future?
“I’ve been doing this play for more than ten years now and it’s hard to look beyond the present. I usually know where I’m going to be in six months to a year in advance,” said Ross.
He doesn’t always have time to develop new material because he’s nearly toured all over the world, and fans love what he has finessed into a perfect stage-show.
What Ross will do next depends on the opportunities that presents itself. He’s done some voice over work for Shield Star Knights, an online interactive project for children, but unless the project is something unique for Ross, the reward will not as satisfying. He performed in Sev: The Rise of the Wizard of Bong at the 2009 Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina and even appeared in a few Victoria Fringe Festival shows, like 2011’s Tara Firm and the Lunar War Chronicles.
For now, he’s happy with doing these two shows that he’s very endured to, and he’ll continue on until people finally get tired of it.
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