kuniform

Thanks to my friends Ann and Barry I went on opening night to see Charles Ross’ “The One Man Star Wars Trilogy” recommended here by the Sun Times. It was, simply put, incredible. I used to be a SW geek many moons ago, and have caught the new, past-history episodes on video, but this was something else.

I expected a show with many props, or one that mercilessly made fun of the storylines, quirks of fans and/or their obsessions. The kind of easy haymaking which comes to mind when dealing with fandom. Having been to many comic cons, and enjoying many things scifi, fantasy, comix or what have you, I realize how many of us are ripe for parody. This was something absolutely different. Without giving much away, let me just say that his performance was spot-on, incisive, and delightful.

He presented a language of gesture which was visually rich and iconic for each character and device, be it spaceship or droid. My first roommate in college had bootlegged the trilogy on to one extended videotape, and used to put it in every Sunday afternoon. These movies would sear into my hungover brain as I would attempt to study, but eventually gave up to watch Luke struggle in Dagobah or Han get frozen in carbonite. Ross captured many of these scenes—especially battle scenes or little model scenes (like AT-ATs on Hoth or Luke in Cloud City) well enough to cause the movie to play out in your brain.

I found myself wondering how he’d been directed; if he’d videotaped himself doing the scenes and compared them with the original. It’s hard to explain without seeing it, but he captured the composition and movement of each scene and transitioned from scene to scene seamlessly. Anyway, it made us have cool conversations about signs, symbols, and communication, and that’s what it’s all about, baby.