Originally published by L.S. Media. June 9th 2010.

Cast: Peter Howe, Christopher Robbie, James Hedley, Seb Morgan, Danny Fox, Russell Clough, Antony Gabriel, William St. Clair, Craig Whittaker, Kirk Barker, Paul Chesterton, Christopher Llewellyn.

There are books and stories that are just too epic and grand in scale to try and transfer over to the theatre, The Hobbit isn’t one of them…just.

Lovingly directed by Roy Marsden, The Hobbit is a tale that has thrilled generations of readers with its ideas of friendship, goblins, wild wolves, trolls, dwarves and dragons. The story is so big, full of adventure and many different ideas that scream for attention it would seem to be impossible to get it all stage without compromising the story, and to do that would be sacrilegious to the writer of the book, J.R.R Tolkien and his loyal army of fans.

The story centres on the hobbit Bilbo Baggins (portrayed by LIPA graduate Peter Howe) and his adventures with the Dwarf King-in-Exile Thorin Oakenshield and his followers as they travel from the relative safety of the Shires (where we meet the legendary Gandalf the Grey for the first time) to the ultimate destination of the Lonely Mountains and its inhabitant Smaug the Dragon.

The dressed set was sumptuously and lent much to the imagination as the revolving trees stood for every part of the narrative. The music that accompanied the play and its important scenes was superb and was in keeping of what you would imagine for a story set within dark times and scary monsters that were just around every corner. Praise must be laid at the feet of Mark Bloxsidge for his sterling effort to portray the emotions of the world that the characters find themselves in.

The monsters themselves were just simply breathtaking, whether it was the simple, yet effective wolves’ outfits, the make-up on Gollum or the outstanding Smaug the Dragon whose very presence on stage spoke volumes on effective use on costumes and design, there couldn’t have been a single person in the theatre who was not impressed with it.

Also a word must be said about the lighting effects which transformed the whole stage effectively as it showed the dank forests and the creepiness of the cave which was only surpassed by the effect of Bilbo Baggins putting on and taking off of the famous ring which plays a central part in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

An evening of epic proportion, a well crafted adaptation and a tale that deserves the reputation it has gained over the last seventy years

Ian D. Hall