Show: 13
Category: Solo Show / Storytelling / Historical content
By: Seán McArdle / Hero Props
Created by: Seán McArdle
Location: Barker Center
Summary: A solo storytelling show about how Minnesota is like Tolkien's Shire (Hobbit country), specifically in the scouring.
Highlights: OK, I went to this show because I've loved The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings for 40 years, but I left again being moved and inspired by my fellow Minnesotans. Prop master Seán McArdle loves LOTR even more than me, and in this well-constructed show, which he primarily reads from a lectern decorated with LOTR and protest memorabilia, he first tells us about his love of all things Tolkien, even painting maps on the walls of his high school classroom for his senior project. He compares the Minnesota State Fair to the Shire, primarily in the prevalence of food and drink and the opportunity to have many meals. But then he comes to the main thesis, that Operation Metro Surge was like "The Scouring of the Shire," a story at the end of The Return of the King in which the Hobbits return home to find that Saruman has turned the Shire into a fascist state (which was omitted from Peter Jackson's adaptation, which Seán says is its biggest flaw). He draws the parallels in a really convincing and moving way, even if you don't know LOTR. He shares social media posts and videos that he made during the time of the Surge, and his contribution of making and distributing many many whistles for people like his friend Kyle Dekker who were out on the streets (see Kyle's show Witness Loudly at Strike). He teaches us a few words of Elvish, and points to the three beacons of hope in LOTR (Aragorn, Gandalf, and Sam) for inspiration. I last read the books in 2020, after returning from my second visit to New Zealand on March 11, to find that the world I knew was completely changed, and found great inspiration in revisiting my favorite story during that difficult year. Tolkien famously hated allegory, as Seán said, but it's hard not to see parallels to our own world when reading these books. This show is a beautiful and moving thesis defense that has 100% convinced me, and a uniquely comforting way to help process our recent collective trauma and find inspiration to keep fighting.
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| at Bilbo's house in Hobbiton, Leap Day 2020 |