Reviewed by James Karas
The Hobbit at the Avon Theatre and Waiting for Godot at the Festival Theatre wrapped up opening nights week (May 25 to May 30, 2026) at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario. Seven plays in six days is an experience to be savored especially when the productions are of the highest quality.
The Hobbit is based on the book by J.R.R. Tolkien which has been adapted for the stage by Kim Selody. It is this year’s Schulich Children’s Play sponsored by the Schulich Foundation. Children are the target audience of the production and quite appropriately The Hobbit is an adventure story.
The wise and seriously hirsute Gandalf (Tim Campbell) with white beard to his stomach, hair to his shoulders and big walking stick launches the adventure. He recruits hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Richard Lee) out of his happy retirement to lead twelve dwarfs to reclaim the Lonely Mountain and its vast treasure from the dragon Smaug (also played by Tim Campbell). This is serious business done on dramatic sets with stupendous lighting and special effects. Bilbo is hired as a burglar. The leader of the Dwarfs is Thorin Oakenshield (Aaron Krohn).
The Hobbit may compete with Homer’s Odyssey and the adventures of Odysseus with Cyclops, Anthropophagi and murderous Sirens. Tolkien/Selody have dwarfs, trolls, giant spiders, goblins elves, trolls and other creatures that live in Middle-earth.
The play has more than thirty characters played by nine actors. The roles they play as stated above are guaranteed to fascinate the youngsters. The other actors with multiple roles are Heidi Damayo, Sara-Jeannie Hosie Derek Kwan, Michael Man and Jennifer Villaverde.
The costumes are out of the world or in Middle-earth or to be exact in Tolkien’s imagination. Th real source for the costumes is the immense creative talent of Ting-Huan and Christine Urquhart. Lighting Designer Michael Walton does unbelievably fantastic effects with the lights. The extraordinary sets are designed by Lorenzo Savoini. One cannot praise these people enough because no adventure story would be effective without their contributions.
Director Pablo Felices-Luna handles the handful of actors with the numerous roles, the changing scenes and complexities with expertise and the youngsters should enjoy the production.
In short, it is a fantastic show that should grab the attention of the young ones and their parents or guardians.
Waiting for Godot
Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot has kept the attention, fascination and wonder of audiences, scholars and readers for more than seventy years. The play is produced regularly and people leave the theatre wondering what the hell was going on. There is really no answer except “what you see is what you get.” You may think you know what you see but you may never know what you get or what you are supposed to think of what you get. I hope that is completely confusing.
The Stratford Festival production directed by Molly Atkinson features Tom McCamus as Estragon, Paul Gross as Vladimir, Jonathan Goad as Pozzo the slave owner and David W. Keeley as Lucky the slave. Gordon Paul Miller and Asher Albert Waxman alternate as the Boy.
In a desolate area with a bare tree, the two tramps talk about nothing and have nothing to talk about except that they are waiting for Godot. One of them is beaten and we get the impression of nothingness. We do not know of nothingness nor of who or what Godot is or that he exists.
Atkinson uses the large Festival Theatre stage to add to the void that the characters occupy.
In McCamus and Gross, Atkinson has some of the best talents to play the tramps with Goad and Keeley delivering fine performances in the secondary roles. Estragon is beaten up, has trouble with his shoes and is truly pathetic. Vladimir tries to be optimistic but that does not change anything even when they try to play games. Waiting for Godot has humour and in some productions, it is played almost as a comedy. Atkinson directs an orthodox production which has some laughs but she does not overdo it.
Pozzo holds Lucky the slave at the end of a rope and the Latter does not say much. It is a pathetic scene on top of a pathetic everything without engaging our sympathy as in a non-Beckett play.
A passing thought. How about looking at Waiting for Godot as a metaphor for life, our life, the world. A meaningless void in which we kid ourselves that someone will come , a redeemer, something and we kid ourselves that he is coming and we should wait for him??/
The Hobbit by Kim Selody adapted from J.R.R. Tolkien’s
novel opened on May 30 and will run in repertory until October 23, 2026, at the
Avon Theatre, Stratford, Ontario. Waiting for Godot by Samuel
Beckett opened on May 30 and will run in repertory until July 31, 2026 at the
Festival Theatre, Stratford, Ont. www.stratfordfestival.ca
James Karas is the Culture editor of The Greek Press, Toronto
No comments:
Post a Comment