In 1998, The Lord of the Rings was voted the UK's favourite book by the British public, a fact which goes some way to explaining the eclectic audience for the opening night of this new touring production of its literary forerunner The Hobbit.
Inveterate Tolkien anoraks mingled with wide-eyed children, teenagers and adult chaperones, some of whom had never read the books; others had come to investigate how the epic adventures of Bilbo Baggins could be translated onto a stage. The scale of the journey made by the mild-mannered little hobbit in search of the treasures of the dwarves, stolen by the dragon Smaug and hidden deep inside the Misty Mountains, is both a gift and a limitation to Glyn Robbins's adaptation.
On the one hand it is a visual and theatrical challenge to which the creative team rises with flying colours; on the other, the inevitable difficulties of condensing an entire fictional world into two hours and fewer than 20 players is daunting.
Nevertheless, under Roy Marsden's direction, David Shields's moveable set looks amazing: gnarled, twisted trees, bristling foliage, caverns, mountain tracks, waterfalls, giant spiders and an absolutely massive dragon, invoke a fantastical sense of journeying through a magical, often threatening Otherworld.
Abigail Hammond's costumes, Nicholas Hall's fight scenes and Robin Carter's dramatic lighting owe more than a touch of inspiration to Ridley Scott's Gladiator, providing a massive canvas onto which the battles and trials of our small heroes are projected.
Michael Geary is a rotund, endearing Bilbo, John Walters a towering, controlling Gandalf and James Boston fills in beautifully on the night as the pathetic, wheedling Gollum, holed up in his slimy, underground kingdom.
The Hobbit is at the Belfast Grand Opera House until February 17th. Bookings from the Ticket Shop. Tel: Belfast 90241919. The show plays the Cork Opera House from February 20th to 24th, (021) 4270022