Robin Hood

Vale Royal Musical Theatre have produced their Christmas pantomime Robin Hood.  Set in the time period in Sherwood Forest, Nottingham, this traditional tale has been highlighted in this farcical pantomime.  Robin Hood (the brave, bold and handsome hero) manages to defeat the baddie (Sheriff of Nottingham) and even save Maid Marion from a fate worse than death!  Along with her band of merry men, Robin eventually saves the day after the usual panto shenanigans along the way.

This panto was directed and produced by Sally Ross.  The majority of the direction was appropriate and the choreography, although basic, was sympathetic to the era and style.  The set was very basic but appropriate also.  It enabled the cast to have multiple entrances and exits and the main part was of the stage was used as multiple locations.  The lights were basic with a few coloured gels added to create atmosphere.  Again, this was appropriate and nothing else was needed.  Even though the production values were limited, this production really didn’t need anything else as the focus was on the storytelling and the action.  For me, this panto severely lacked pace and energy.  By having the actors sing the whole song of every song meant that the pace was dropped each time.  Despite this, the audience certainly enjoyed it and that’s what is important.

The sound was generally poor.  The levels of the backing tracks that were used were great which enabled the audience to join in and clap etc wherever appropriate.  However, the cast mics were not cued correctly, not switched on at all (Maid Marion) or the levels were not correct.  Will Scarlet’s mic was placed beneath his chin and the mics for Sheriff and Robin were too close to their mouth and/or the levels too high which made their sound distorted. 

Robin Hood was played by Sammi Hatton.  Sammi certainly looked the part and brought all of the Robin Hood and leading protagonist characteristics to the part.  Sammi had a brilliant stage presence and a lovely singing voice to boot.  Sammi’s diction and articulation was excellent and she told the story well.

Maid Marion was played by Becky Benson.  I felt that Maid Marion was a little too laid back and a little too naturally played for this genre.  It didn’t help that her mic didn’t work throughout which made it harder to connect to her character.  Becky had a lovely singing voice and I liked her duet with Sammi ‘Dream a Little Dream’.

The Sheriff of Nottingham was suitably played by Martyn Bernardo.  Martyn had the right amount of bad, charm and sleaze to portray this role and was suitably evil throughout.  He was well cast in this role.

Nell Nightingale was played by Tracy Williams.  I enjoyed Tracy’s performance – even though I hated her synthetic wig.  Tracy used her voice well to add to her characterisation and was suitably evil throughout.  I really liked her evil laugh and she got the right amount of boo’s from the audience.

Aunt Effie (The Dame) was played by Garry Wallis.  Garry had a great rapport with the audience which made them love him even more than they already did.  Garry’s costumes were fab, and I was looking forward to seeing what he was going to wear next.  Garry’s asides, put downs and innuendo’s were well executed and timed and he was very well cast in the role!

Will Scarlet was played by Joe Moore.  Joe certainly looked the part and performed well.  I felt that his performance was a little too natural and a little too laid back.  Saying this, Joe told the story well and I liked some of the characteristics that he brought.

Floggem and Whippem were played by Audrey Mellor and Faye Kenyon.  I can see from the script that these two characters should be the ones that the audience love and howl with laughter.  There is so much potential with these characters, but I felt that every time they came on stage the energy and the pace dropped.  I quite liked the energy from Faye (Whippem) but Audrey was far too quiet, far too laid back and not energetic enough for this role.  Don’t get me wrong, they were suitably funny, and the audience certainly enjoyed their performance, but I just felt that I should be crying with laughter and I just wasn’t.

Robin Hood’s band of merry men were well played by all.  The storytelling was good, and the audience enjoyed their performances.   The rest of the cast looked good in their costumes and performed well throughout.  Overall, this was an okay pantomime.  Visually, it was good.  The set, costumes and props etc made it look good.  The storytelling was very good, by all, throughout.  The choreography was basic and repetitive with box steps and step digs but appropriate for this production.  The direction was generally good.  A little too much of having people standing in lines or semi-circles but I’m sure the audience didn’t notice this.  The audience certainly enjoyed this production and it was suitably funny.  I just felt it was a little laid back in pace, slow in places and missed the mark, comedy wise, from time to time.  Despite this, the audience loved it and were roaring at the end and that’s all that matters.

 I thank VRMT for their invitation and wish them all the very best for their 2019 season.

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