Stealing From The Rich To Feed The Poor – But Someone’s Been Robin The Story
Pantomime is a much-loved British tradition, that brings families together during the festive season.
Full of cheeky humour and playful double entendre, panto is often the one time each year that many families get to enjoy a trip to the theatre.
Take a fairytale like Cinderella, Snow White or Peter Pan, add in a few familiar faces from the media that everyone will recognise, throw in some topical jokes and catchy songs and you have a formula audiences adore.
This year at London’s New Wimbledon Theatre, dance sensations Ashley Banjo and Diversity take over Sherwood Forest in Robin Hood.
In Sherwood Forest we meet Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Robin is a talented archer who wants to help those in need and make sure everyone is treated fairly.
Trouble soon arrives in the form of the greedy Sheriff of Nottingham who is taking money from the poor and trying to make himself the most powerful man in the land.
Robin, Maid Marian and their friends set out to outsmart him and return the stolen money to the people who truly need it.
Diversity
The dance numbers are undeniably brilliant. Complex routines cover a number of different styles and show why Diversity deserve the success they have achieved. As Britain’s Got Talent winners (2009) there is a natural expectation for dance to play a major role in the show. Yet it often felt more like a Diversity showcase than a traditional pantomime.
The Diversity boys aren’t actually bad actors. Ashley Banjo takes the lead (and is the one everyone has come to see) but he is supported well by Jordan Banjo and Perri Kiely and I wondered why they weren’t given more acting to do when they are clearly competent.
The danger of Comedy
Comedians have a tough job in todays society of ‘cancel culture’ and I feel for them, having to think about what they are saying when ad-libbing on stage.
Unfortunately, comedian and magician Pete Firman (Will Scarlet) slipped up by asking a man from the audience if he knew the person sitting next to him (to which he did not). The response of “well, punch her in the face” was unnecessary (especially during a performance 90% filled with school children).
There were other moments that felt out of place such as a joke about Ashley Banjo “coming out of the closet” and a gag suggesting that men sharing a bed is something to avoid. These jokes felt dated rather than cheeky.
A spectacle to remember
Robin Hood is advertised as “a spectacle to remember” although nothing about the staging stood out. The sets looked flimsy and the costumes seemed tired rather than impressive.
The promised special effects amounted to repeated pyrotechnic bursts that did little to lift the production.
One highlight was the inclusion of what is, in my view, the best panto song a production can choose: “If I Were Not Upon the Stage.” It is always a hit. The cast repeatedly sing their own verses about what they might do if they were not actors which leads to a chaotic slapstick routine involving frying pans and police truncheons.
Sadly, this production of Robin Hood did not leave me merrily riding off into the night. Instead, I left wondering where the pantomime was, in what felt more like a short Diversity performance, rather than a full festive show.
★★
West End Wilma
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