Charles Ross talks to Matthew Jenkin about his latest one man version of the Lord Of The Rings films.

NO PROPS, no set. With just one ring to rule them all and one man to play them all, Charles Ross’s version of Peter Jackson’s epic Lord Of The Rings trilogy is like the budget version of a big brand tin of beans.

The content is essentially the same, but with less frills and a hell of a lot cheaper.

One Man Lord Of The Rings, visiting Croydon’s Fairfield Halls this month, is Charles’s ambitious follow-up to his acclaimed One Man Star Wars show.

Having seen George Lucas’s original first instalment around 400 times, it’s easy to make assumptions about the Canadian’s desperately sad social life.

But, as he explains, it was a choice between that or a bad Brooke Shields movie.

“I watched the Star Wars films when I was a kid growing up on a farm for four years,” Charles said.

“We didn’t have television or hardly any radio reception — just a VCR and a few movies to watch.

“One was Star Wars and the other was The Blue Lagoon.

Watching Star Wars was something to do in the evening.

“So when I tried to write something, all the knowledge of these films were in my head already.”

When it came to Lord Of The Rings, however, Charles didn’t have the luxury of knowing the films with such intimacy.

With just three months between the final film showing in cinemas and his scheduled tour, Charles had the unenviable task of condensing 12 hours of celluloid magic into a snappy one hour show.

“Having done Star Wars, it wasn’t so difficult,” Charles coolly explains.

“If you just follow a specific vector or direction, the story is actually quite lean.

“And when you don’t have the visuals or the music to worry about, it’s quite a short story in some ways.”

Both his Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings shows have been approved by its creators, but how have the iconic movies’ rabid fans reacted to his anorexically slimmed down versions?

He said: “If the shows have been made for anybody, it’s for them.

“The more savvy the fans are about the films, the more they’ll realise the jokes are geared towards them."

With Tolkien and Star Wars already in the bag, what trilogy is next to receive the Charles Ross makeover?

“It’s been something which has rolled through my head since the first day of doing Star Wars,” he said.

“I really think they’ve yet to make a new trilogy which does what Star Wars or Lord Of The Rings has done.

“You have to have something which takes itself quite seriously so you can poke fun at it, but come from a place of loving it.

“I’ve really seriously considered doing the new Batman films. I think they might have a chance.”

Genius. But with the next instalment still nothing more than a thought, Charles better hold off before dusting down his cape and sharpening his pointy bat ears.

One Man Lord Of The Rings. Fairfield Halls, Croydon. September 14. 020 8688 9291 or visit fairfield.co.uk