Having first read, and loved, The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien when I was younger I was slightly apprehensive about seeing it on the stage. However, all my fears were dispersed upon seeing good old Bilbo Baggins -the hobbit from the title (James Bradshaw), sitting outside his home, though at first it seemed too tall for a hobbit hole. 

Of the characters Bilbo, Gandalf, Elrond and the hissing Gollum will be familiar to anyone who went to see The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring last year, here we get to see some of their adventures preceding those they find themselves in in the Fellowship.

The Hobbit tells us of Bilbo's own extraordinary adventure with the dwarves across Middle-Earth to win back their gold from the great dragon Smaug. During the journey Bilbo, hired by the dwarves as an unlikely “expert burglar” finds the one Ring of Power, after escaping from an excellently choreographed fight between the dwarves and the goblins of the Misty Mountains. If you are unfamiliar with Tolkien's Middle-Earth there is no need to despair since a handy map of the area covered is given in the programme. 

The costumes, although of a different style to the films were appropriate and the set was very clever comprising of just two revolving stacks that could immediately became houses, trees or caves. The backdrops and lighting were superb, creating the exact atmosphere without drawing too much attention to them. Perhaps the most impressive piece of the set was the dragon, surrounded by smoke and with glowing eyes Smaug speaks to Bilbo from his pile of gold in the dwarves cavern. I was a bit unsure how good the story would be with music, but as with the set, care had gone into the music and lyrics so they enhance the tale and captivate the audience.

All the actors seemed very suited to the characters they played with my personal favourites being Mark Wells as Gollum, Cornelius Booth as the goblin king, Julian Chaloner as Beorn and Michael Jenn as the master of laketown. Other highlights include the entertainment at Beorn's hall, the excellent voices of the dwarves and the battle of the five armies, especially impressive with a cast of thirteen

Fans of the book will spot some discrepancies in both the plot and some of the features, however this is only to be expected from an adaption (by Glyn Robbins), the only main complaints I felt came from some merging of the Hobbit and the Lord of the Ring. Although the Darth Vader style Nazgûl added some extra humour their inclusion added an unnecessary and possibly confusing dimension. Despite this the show is a must seen for Tolkien fanatics and those who want an entertaining show alike and while originally written, as a children's book the tale will captivate those of all ages. 

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