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The Lightsabre Interview
Charles
Ross
Welcome to
Lightsabre. Our latest guest has been
enthralling and cracking up audiences all over the world, from Vancouver to
London. Please
welcome to Lightsabre the one man multi-skilled cast of Charles Ross.
Q - Welcome to
Lightsabre Charles.
A - Merci, Danke, Thank you!
Q - What initially attracted you to Star Wars?
A - The fact that every human being where I lived and grew up was mad
about the films when they first came out. I just loved the fact that an
unassuming person, like Luke, could rise up from such meagre beginnings.
Q - Whatever gave you the idea
to condense the trilogy into 60 minutes?
A - Well, it's the brainchild of me and my friend TJ Dawe, although, if you look
in Return of the Jedi C3P0 does essentially what I do. Of course he has
better sound effects. And costume. And music... I'm just jealous.
Q - It's been a huge success,
taking you all over the world from your native Canada to the UK and beyond. What's been the most interesting place
you've performed?
A -
Well, one of the more interesting places that I've performed was in the
United Arab Emirates, Dubai to be exact. What an incredible place. Like a
cross between Tatooine and Coruscant.
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yes, this man
knows how to use a Lightsabre... |
Q - And the best
audience?
A -
The best audience...hmm...well, I'd say the best type of audience is always
in a convention setting. Whether it's been a World Con or Celebration you
just can't beat the audience.
Q -
Would you find it a challenge to tackle the prequel trilogy? How could you
NOT make it all about Jar Jar?
A -
Cut Jar Jar out. Believe me, when you're trying to condense massive amounts
of text and action it's easy to get rid of what you'd rather not include.
Q - You've been looking to
expand your subject matter, and word has it that you tried to get the
rights to do the Lord of the Rings trilogy. What was the come back
from the Tolkien estate?
A -
Well, I didn't seek out the rights before doing the show, that led to the
eventual problem. I had a good show but didn't have the permission to do it.
Strangely (a yet quite revealing as to the vastly different power structure
behind the Tolkien franchise than say Lucasfilm) I was contacted by a
representative from the musical production. They had the rights to push
their production through, I didn't, end of story. Hopefully the story can
still have a happy ending.
Q -
Has the Bearded One seen the show?
A - George Lucas or Santa? I
assume the former, in either case the answer is no, not in a live
performance. I assume he's seen some of the show as I have the rights to do the show.
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go and see
it...that's an order! |
Q -
What would your ultimate subject matter be for a show of this nature? What
haven't you done that you'd love to do? The Bible in 60 minutes?
A - Funny that you should
mention the Bible, I've thought of it before. Funny how the same idea
strikes people. As far as "ultimate" idea for this structure of
performance would be to write a story that isn't in the public domain. To
tell a new a tale. To me the ultimate is to tell a story rather than simply
adapt and re-tell. Maybe that's folly on my part, but I'm willing to give it
a shot.
Q - Many thanks for being our
guest at Lightsabre. One final question. You have to chose a Star Wars character to do
a show about for 60 minutes. Your choice is:
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Yoda
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Jar Jar
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Jabba
Which would it be?
A -
That's rough, I would think that each could have their own merits. Jabba
would probably be the most entertaining in the end imagine some horrid
sitcom at Jabba's palace: I can see a broken neon
sign that reads "Jabba's Place" (minus the "a"). And there's the name of the
show: Jabba's Place. Wacky neighbours abound who
eventually get fed to the Rancor monster. Many, many thanks.
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