Robin Hood

This was a production full of delights, a wonderful example of community pantomime at its best. With superb teamwork across the board and a real community spirit, the Company made everything in the production work together so that the whole was greater than the sum of its parts, and those parts were already very good. Underpinned by skilful direction, in both acting and singing, and lovely choreography, the cast and chorus demonstrated great ability in acting, singing and dancing. There was clearly a very good Stage Manager (Gary Sturgess) and backstage crew (Dan Goodfellow and Gordon Morris, with Jane Green as Prompt), the set painting was done by the cast and crew, and the whole thing was completed by great costumes (Kirsty Andrews) and props (Eileen Sturgess). The Wriggle Valley Players really brought the story of Robin to Hood to life with their energy, enthusiasm and just the right mix of comedy and emotion. This built a connection with the audience so that by the time the big ‘it’s behind you’ routine came with the skeleton figure, there was a great deal of screaming and shouting.

At the performance I attended there was a near-capacity audience, all very engaged with the show, and given that the hall is a big auditorium to project into, it is a tribute to the cast that they did it so well, without microphones and amplification. There were only a couple of points where I felt that the volume could have done with being a bit louder, and even those weren’t a problem. The energy brought by all was shown in the large cast & chorus opening number, At The End of the Day. This was a stirring, rousing start and set the tone for what followed. All of the chorus did really well in their singing and dancing throughout, as with the slow-motion fighting in One Way or Another, right through to the powerful finale song Celebrate, and some of the chorus were very young indeed. Well done to all!

The choreography was spot-on and the dancing was a really enjoyable element of the show, as with the rock-and-roll dancing in the Presley numbers the chorus did with the Sheriff of Nottingham: Trouble and Jailhouse Rock. I was slightly puzzled by the skeleton figure dancing at the back in the latter number, but the reason became apparent a bit later when it appeared again for the ‘it’s behind you’ routine. Congratulations to Amy Parker for the great music and choreography.

The set designs by Steve Crumpler (who also played a part on stage) were very effective, with flats painted (skilfully by the cast and crew, as previously mentioned) to represent a variety of locations such as a medieval village, Maid Marion’s bedroom or a forest. The lighting design also worked well, both generally and with specific effects such as the green lights used for the Morgana ‘witch’ gathering and the dramatic swivelling light used in the curtain call.

There were plenty of classic pantomime comedy situations and little comic touches, from the cake-making in the castle kitchen to Friar Tuck’s risqué adult joke – ‘my name is now a spoonerism’. I thought the pantomime cow, Daisy, with her nice little expressions of the head, was superb and thoroughly enjoyed the amusing interactions of Little John and Bill, where the latter is keen on the former but Little John doesn’t know Bill is really a woman. Bullseye calling Friar Tuck a chip-monk when the latter ordered a Big Mac and fries was typical of the quick-fire humour, and well delivered by Bullseye. I was puzzled at first when Alan-a-Dale plucked a pretend lute in a song but there was no guitar or lute music for him to mime to, but then he gave a very amusing expression of surprise when the electric guitar music did indeed kick in.

The emotional elements of the show were also very well-done. Marion’s and Robin’s song in the dungeon, for example (I Do It All For You) was heartfelt and well-sung (the harmony part was particularly lovely) and in their acting both really showed their feelings. Marion and her companion Sarah did this, too, in their duet Hold On For One More Day and a high point of the show, for me, was Sarah and Will Scarlett  singing A Thousand Years. Congratulations to all and to Kirsty Andrews for her accomplished direction in these and other elements.

The acting, like the singing, was very impressive from everyone. Nurse Nora was a great ‘dame’ character with a suitably strong voice and some delightfully corny jokes. The actor played Robin with an engaging charm and was well supported by his Merrie Men. Their song We’re the Men in Tights was particularly good.  Marion ws given a sweet innocence mixed with adult knowingness and there was an excellent Sarah, projecting loads of energy and really going for it in the song Let’s Get This Party Started. King Richard was played with great accomplishment and thee was a very good Morgana the Soothsayer, and I felt it was rather a pity that the script didn’t give her more to do. There was an outstanding performance as The Sheriff of Nottingham and he had the audience in the palm of his hand with his exuberance and amusing interactions with them. He and Bullseye made a good double-act and he improvised and ad-libbed expertly at one point when the expected line wasn’t forthcoming. He had great projection and stage presence and his song If You’re Looking For Trouble was superb; he really threw himself into it with gusto.

The script worked well, hitting all the welcome clichés, and the ending didn’t disappoint, with lots of joy and marrying couples, Bill the Butcher revealing herself as Belinda the Butcher’s daughter. The rousing rendition of Celebrate and Daisy the Cow coming on, plus an audience participation singing of Daisy Daisy made for a very effective closing for the show. The strong team work and team spirit was evident throughout, and an example of this was that The Sheriff didn’t ‘hog the limelight’ at the end, when it would have been all too easy for him to have done so. Well done to all, and well done to all in the community ‘behind the scenes’ who helped make the show happen. Thank you for a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

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