Robin Hood is currently touring for the Easter break and taking venues by storm.
A highly camp comedic pantomime this show delivers some light hearted fun as we follow Robin Hood (Chris Edgerley) and his Merry Men on their tale of robbing from the rich to give to the poor.
This production is well put together with a strong use of modern media including projection and animation which entertained both children and adults alike. The costumes were vibrant and engaging and looked visually appealing under lighting.
In terms of characters Friar Tuck, played by Jimmy Burton-Iles is truly wonderful and has a fantastic rapport with the audience through his ditzy and simple manner.
Edgerley as our galant hero Robin Hood, delivers a strong performance and leads us through our tale with energy and charisma. Maid Marion, played by Amanda Swift, is the sweet love interest although has a slightly hit and miss south west accent which doesn’t always lean itself itself to the femininity and strength of such an empowered character.
The dynamics between Edgerley and Swift work well and they perform a hilarious and refreshing love duet not dissimilar to the comedy duet send up in Spamalot.
Silly Willy is the comedy character throughout this show and delivers a good performance whilst clearly having a knack for comedy timing. At times there was a lot of upstaging of characters though and maybe with a bit of direction and guidance we could see more depth and comedy of the other characters as it’s very Silly Willy centric at times.
Jamie Bannerman drives a convincingly evil Sheriff of Nottingham with a ‘sidekick’ puppet in the form of a vulture. The ventriloquist vulture doesn’t add anything to the performance and Bannerman would be just as evil (possibly even more so hands free!) letting the vulture fly the nest!
The ensemble are full of energy and passion and really add to the piece but have no microphones, as the show is performed to backing tracks it can be hard to hear their lines in places.
The humour overall appealed to both adults and children with some belly-aching laughter around us! Well worth a trip if Robin and his Merry Men are in a woodland near you (but don’t wear your designer labels else you might get robbed!)
Reviewed by Matthew Wren Andrew