The reasoning that led Canadian actor Charles Ross to condense the Star Wars trilogy into a no frills fringe show was practical and unexpected. “I wanted to get some autonomy of my career,” says Ross. “Writing the Star Wars show was one of the many attempts I made to get my career into my own hands.”

 

Sitting in his friend’s house in Toronto, Ross tapped into his childhood for ideas of how exactly to resolve his career debacle. Having seen Star Wars IV: A New Hope “as much as a human being can watch a film”, which meant over 400 times for Ross, he started scripting the comedy skit. And the force was with him as, since 2001, Ross has been touring his one-hour show through North America and beyond with the full blessing of Lucasfilm and Star Wars fans everywhere.

 

The show is admittedly pretty hilarious, much like a kid re-enacting his favourite films to his friends. In that sense, it’s like a true fringe show as Ross uses neither costumes nor props. “I’m acting it out in a way in which I just use my own faculties to be things – inanimate objects and creatures – fall on the ground, get back up, embody everything,” explains Ross. I do many weird things – I go from being a robot to becoming a spaceship, lightsaber battles, vocal versions of orchestral sounds…”

 

The key to One-Man Star Wars Trilogy, and what ultimately makes it work over and above Ross’ antics, is his dead-on voice acting. Drawing on his passive knowledge of having seen the film so many times, the now 30-page script draws on memory cues (mostly sound) for the audience to be on the same page as Ross Star Wars-wise. But if you haven’t seen the films, don’t worry; Ross says even Star Wars virgins still tend to enjoy the show.

 

“This isn’t even a job to me now, just an absolute friggin joy,” says Ross. “And it came from the simplest of desires – which was to work in a vocation that it’s difficult to make headway in. Over the years, it’s not that I take it very seriously but I’ve lived it for quite a while and I’m a bit more philosophical about it now. I still find it incredibly fun to do this.”