Robin Hood

It’s always good to visit The Angles Theatre, because apart from the nice welcome I can usually be assured of meeting people I know. Two young friends had come to support a fellow thespian we all know doing his best to be the Baddie rather than as normal being the silly Billy character.

Robin Hood is a well-known tale, however taken strictly as the tale is, it does not have a strong story line, well not in this version, heavy on song and dance, a little lighter on story line. Having said that the programme gave very little information on which of the principals sang the songs. As always with the Angles Theatre the show was centered around many youngsters with several of the principal roles being taken by teenagers. Only Robin Hood, the Dame, the Sherrif of Nottingham and Silly Willy taken by adults, with Rob Williams again taking the role of Dame Nanny Fanny Flapjack. A pantomime often lives or falls on the actions and character of the Dame; we can be assured that Rob gives excellent value and greatly entertains the audience not only with his singing but the repartee with the audience. Great comic timing and always picking the correct audience member to be his fall guy, the costumes and the wigs that he displayed with style delightfully made him the queen of the pantomime dames, and also displayed not a bad pair of legs in tights. He worked remarkably well with Josh Shippey who brought us a hilariously silly Willy.

This was a great role for Josh who gave us a continuous flow of silliness and slapstick, he delivered a good selection of jokes, some of which the audience were occasionally a little slow to react to but thankfully went over the heads of younger members of the audience. Josh gave an amazing rendition of what can best be described as a quick-fire alphabet song where everything was a drink of some type, hilariously performed and greeted with great applause. Silly Willy was desperate to become one of the Merry Men and to impress Robin Hood who was well played by thigh slapping Melissa, good vocals and a commanding performance, she had a good rapport with Mia who played an enchanting Maid Marion. This was a great performance by Mia, a lovely voice and a poised performer on stage she was enthusiastically applauded by the audience and was a great favourite of all, a lovely and confident performance, outshining the outlandishly gay Sherrif of Nottingham lovingly portrayed by he whom we had come to support, Liam Nixon. The costume, wig and make-up gave him the wickedness he needed to show, together with the sneering voice and the superior attitude he took which epitomized the distaste he showed for all those around him. He was ably supported by Ollie as Scratch-it and Isobel as Sniff (in the production I saw) as the two witless henchmen.

The Merry Men were completed by Lucia as Friar Tuck, Erin as Alan-a-dale and Imogen as Little John who complemented Melissa’s Robin Hood, good vocals, with clear dialogue. There was one other principal I was much taken with and that was young Bessie as The Sherwood Sprite, she gave us a very confident and assured performance. She had a strong voice, great clear dialogue was at home opening the show and throughout her performance, well done.

The company of dancers and chorus were well drilled in both their choreography and singing, all knew their places in a full stage which had much movement in the majority of their routines, they nearly all smiled all the time, because there weas a great deal of smiling it is noticeable when one or two don’t. They were well costumed and the dancers gave us some great routines. Vocals were good.

This theatre shows that you don’t need extravagant sets, but with well designed cut outs, lighting and imaginative paintwork, appropriate props, slick entrances and exits combined with well made and fitted costumes, wigs and makeup and fully supported by a good production and back stage team you can provide a great evening’s entertainment.  

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.