Created and rehearsed in an impressive nine days, Parody of the Rings assures a fun time for anyone and everyone.
Upon entry, you are handed coloured balls being described as an audience tombola in the chance of winning a variety of The Lord of the Rings items throughout this “movie marathon”, including Hula Hoops crisps, Hobbit slippers, and a CD of the movie trilogy’s soundtrack signed by the one and only Sir Ian McKellen. However, what happens when the ushers at this local cinema have misplaced the DVDs of The Lord of the Rings, and the audience is no longer able to watch the eleven-hour movie marathon that has been promised?
Not to worry, as our saviours are here, in the form of our cinema ushers, Jackson (Alexandra Ricou) and Peter (Jacob Aldcroft)! With memorable quotes, which are of course canonical to Peter Jackson’s films, like “No Frodo, don’t give into the temptation of fingering the ring!” from Jackson, and Peter’s mimic of Ian McKellen’s iconic laugh, there were uncontrollable sets of laughter from the audience continuously throughout the show.
The way they utilised the simple items around them, from the tombola prizes, and a sudden appearance of items in their humorously large suitcase, to create such an entertaining performance puts those of us to shame who reenacted movie scenes in our childhood homes. Jackson and Peter using a mop to represent Gandalf’s beard, a big hiking backpack donned with camping tins (looking exactly like Duke of Edinburgh backpack) to signify Samwise Gamgee, and Gollum being shown through the adornment of a grey swimcap & swimming goggles is pure comedy genius. And as you can guess, recalling back to the coloured balls we were handed at the start, the audience themselves had to assist in defeating the Eye of Sauron by throwing these balls at the villainous volcano.
In a moment of confession, I was initially apprehensive of the show at first, as it had been a while since I had last watched The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Also, at first glance, I was afraid that the show would be quite tacky from the simple props and the acting, making it seem like a family show. However, I’m glad to have been proven entirely wrong by the duo’s comedy and scattering of the occasional PG joke. I was also delighted to see the somewhat representation of the famous “Sam x Frodo ship” with their undeniable tension!
Image by Joshua Beaumont, provided to The Student as press.
