Robin Hood and Babes in the Wood

This production of Robin Hood and Babes in the Wood was well written by one  of the Company’s Committee members,  Allan Rogers,  who was also involved with the production team in bringing the show to the stage.  It succeeded in  giving  just the right mix of comedy and song and dance items, with plenty of stage time for the chorus.

The show opens with a Minstrel  (Kerri-Ann Lees)  explaining the plot in verse. She then hands over to the narrator, who in this instance is a talking owl, played by Vicky Fosker , who is  perched in a tree to the side of the stage.  A novel idea from the writer rather than the traditional fairy, and one which I’m sure the children in the audience will all remember.

The choice of songs in a Panto are always so important and the opening number was a good example of finding the perfect song to fit the occasion. Most of the cast were involved in this number  “Brand New Day “ which  was brilliantly sung and danced with  such energy and enthusiasm; as were all of the numbers. The total  cast was  over 50 members.  That sounds a lot, but the stage never looked too over-crowded  and it gave an opportunity for lots of young people to perform. They were divided into the tiny Juniors, the Junior Dancers, the Main Dancers and the Chorus hence,  the large number of choreographers required to work with their different groups and  achieving a very good standard of dancing and integration of the groups.  There were some lovely scenes  including bears in the forest  and in the castle nursery with some of the dancers dressed as  toy characters.  

Robin Hood played by Charlotte Lamb, a strong character who was well supported  by the band of merry men, with Allan Rogers as Little John, Ian Doyle as Will Scarlet and Neville Woolnough as Alan-A-Dale.   Ruff and Redy were the two comedy characters  played by Carl Clark and Mary Leech  and worked well  together.   The suitably evil  Sheriff of Nottingham was played by Darren Scriven  and certainly had the audience hissing and booing.

Maddi Mitchell was Maid Marian with the delightful , if sometimes pretentious   Babes,  Sophie & Sadie,  played by Evie Wheatley and Dulcie-Rose List .  Paul Leech was the Dame,  Nurse Nellie Needles, together with Tessie Tuck  (Natalie Barker) who  were  wonderfully colourful  comedic characters, and communicated  well with their audience.  These two along with Ruff and Redy were involved in  an extremely funny slapstick scene, which left you wondering,  was that supposed to happen  or not?   I think they will all end up with several bruises at  the end of the  run after slipping and sliding around on the wet  floor. I was assured it was all meant  to happen, and it did look  very convincing !!

The standard of singing was very good under the leadership of Jo King and her band and the sound levels worked well.  The costume department excelled and were certainly given a huge task  in supplying  so many lovely costume changes for such a large cast, particularly for  all the chorus and Dames costumes.   The numerous  scene changes were quick and the set  was  good and colourful,  creating lots of mood changes with some  effective lighting. Thanks must also go to Vernon  and his family,  front of house,  for looking after us so well, despite the trouble we had trying to get to this production due to problems on the roads on this wet and windy week.      

Well done to Paul and all the cast and crew for a very  entertaining  and enjoyable  evening.    We will certainly look forward to coming back again in the summer. Thank you.                              

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