The Hobbit At The Stratford Festival
I saw The Hobbit at the Stratford Festival’s Avon Theatre with an audience of 800 students, some of them quite young. Their verdict is in. They loved it! They seemed to be rapt throughout the entire two and a half hours. They cheered some of the special effects, often laughed with recognition, and gave the show a rousing round of applause at the end.
Of course many adults are captivated by the fantasy world of Middle Earth and this adult was rather less than enthusiastic.
The Hobbit has been adapted by Kim Selody from J.R.R. Tolkien’s children’s novel, a prequel of sorts to his magisterial Lord of The Rings trilogy. Selody seems to have dedicated his career to creating plays for young audiences, so I was a bit surprised that he didn’t trust their powers of imagination more than he does.
Selody tells the story of The Hobbit in fairly pedestrian prose interspersed with occasional songs whose lyrics don’t rise much above the level of doggerel. We get the outlines of the tale but little of its deeper resonances.
Rather than let the story unfold on its own, he uses the hoary device of a narrator to tell us things that, apparently, we wouldn’t get on our own. Of course, The Hobbit has a cast of just nine actors, most of whom take on a dizzying array of roles, so perhaps he had no choice.
Like Selody, director Pablo Felices-Luna is steeped in children’s theatre. He is artistic director of Manitoba Theatre for Young People, where this rendition of The Hobbit premiered in 1999.
With the help of the Stratford Festival’s technical wizardry, which I’m guessing has more resources than he’s used to back home, he has turned in a workmanlike rendition of Tolkien’s tale that certainly has its moments but never truly soars.
Perhaps inspired by the circular doors in Hobbit homes, Lorenzo Savoini has created an impressive set flanked by a series of three truncated stone circles that move in and out and can be highlighted with glowing light from within. With these, Felices-Luna uses his cast to create some arresting stage pictures.
The downside of his design was that, at moments when I was less than enthralled by the goings on on stage, it reminded me of an immense turkey carcass.
There is some ingenious use of puppets, including a trio of towering trolls and, best of all, the dragon Smaug. Only when the smoke cleared a bit was I able to realize that this massive creature was created by three actors standing a few feet apart, one holding the head and the others the wings.
The climactic Battle of the Five Armies is depicted as a sort of martial arts ballet. (Sara Topham, the etherial Titania in this season’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, is the movement director.) I prefer a little more verisimilitude in my stage combat, but this approach works quite well. At times, when the combatants paused for effect they reminded me of promotional posters for a Marvel superheroes movie.
Lighting designer Michael Walton and sound designer Debashis Sinha team up to orchestrate some dramatic moments when the story needs them. The costumes by Ting-Huan Christine Urquhart are never less than interesting, although I felt that the need for so many quick changes forced her to make some compromises.
As you might expect of a Stratford production the cast is quite good. Richard Lee is perfectly genial as the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins. Alas, the script doesn’t give him much to work with. The same can be said for Aaron Krohn as Thorin Oakenshield, the gruff leader of the dwarves. Sara-Jeanne Hosie has some delightful moments as Old Took, Bilbo’s grandmother, who acts as narrator. Her witty costume is one of Urquhart’s best.
Tim Campbell makes for an imposing Gandalf. I was a bit surprised that there was no programme credit for hair and wigs. Gandalf’s luxuriant mane and beard are marvels to behold.
Michael Man is terrific in multiple roles. Unfortunately none has sufficient stage time to allow him to really shine.
If you have kids who are up on their Tolkien, by all means bring them. Otherwise, you might prefer to simply reread the book – cheaper, too.
The Hobbit continues at the Avon Theatre through October 23, 2026. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the Stratford Festival website.
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