Published: Thursday, 11th February, 2010 5:30pm

A very precious show

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One Man Lord of The Rings

IF YOU like The Lord Of The Rings but not the 10 hours of your life it takes to watch the films then this could be the show for you.

Charlie Ross is the brains, braun, and pretty much everything else behind the production One Man Lord Of The Rings which condenses the trilogy into a slimline 3,600 seconds.

He said: "It comes from reading the books when I was a kid and then watching the films. I sat at the computer to write something, I just went from what I could remember from the top of my head. I thought, whatever train of thought I can follow other people should be able to!

"Some of the characters are reduced simply because of how much time there is and how much material there is. Arwen, for example, has only one or two lines but she's predominantly in the films rather than the books anyway.

"Also, I don't do a very good impression of a woman!

"There's no props, no set, no costumes - just me."

This is not Charlie's first condensed show. "Star Wars was my first kick at the can," he said.

"It worked really well so I was sort of looking for a sequel and Lord Of The Rings seemed like the obvious choice. I only just got legal permission to do it last year so it's still pretty fresh for me, but I'm always in the market for a new trilogy.

"Maybe the Matrix, maybe Indiana Jones. Star Wars is possibly the most popular franchise, but Harry Potter is up there!

"Star Wars was a bit more difficult because it was my first try. At first I felt foolish but then I embraced that feeling. With Lord Of The Rings I was already wearing that mantel of looking foolish and not really caring.

"This is a very forgiving show. There is an improvised element but I get confused all the time. That's just part of it. If you can mess up in front of 800 people and not have a problem you can pretty much do anything.

"If you were doing something like Shakespeare and fluffed it though... good luck trying to improvise iambic pentameter!"

SARAH STEAD

l At the Camberley Theatre on Wednesday (01276 707600); at Reading Concert Hall on Thursday, February 18 (0118 960 6060); and Basingstoke Haymarket Theatre on Friday, March 5 (01256 844244).