Robin Hood – Civic Theatre, Rotherham

Writer: Eric Potts

Director: Robert Marsden

Eric Potts of Imagine Theatre has apparently written ten pantomimes this year, but, if you anticipate recycled gags, you’ve got another thing coming. Admittedly, Will Scarlet and Little Jane enjoy an orgy of bad puns early on which might have appeared in similar form at Leicester or Kilmarnock, but the local nature of this panto is never in doubt, with references (sometimes derogatory) to local firms and (most definitely derogatory) to the likes of Doncaster.

The show romps along at a cracking pace, occasionally touching on the legend of Robin Hood. The opening sees Will Scarlet attempting to win the silver arrow in competition with the Sheriff of Nottingham before Robin appears and all bets are off. Thereafter it’s a matter of the Sheriff attempting to catch Robin and ultimately succeeding before (what do you know?) King Richard returns from the Crusades. Fairy Faraway puts a spell on the Sheriff so she becomes sickeningly nice (now why didn’t they think of that before?), Robin marries Marion and all live happily ever after.

The novelty value is the insight into the homelife of our own dear Sheriff. Maid Marion is her ward, commuting between castle and green wood, and to her horror the Sheriff finds two more nieces planted on her, Polly and Penny, each played (very capably in the case of the pair for Sunday’s performance) by four different girls. When they run away, there’s a little digression, with hints of the Babes in the Wood.

In other words Potts’ script simply has fun, aided by Robert Marsden’s spot-on direction, every twitch synchronised in chorus numbers, every furry little creature zooming offstage with electronic wizardry, every appalling pun emphasised by noises from the pit: the uninhibited chap at the keyboard is Kev Richardson. Potts runs through most of the stock pantomime situations and adds a crazy bedroom scene where Little Jane occupies each of the beds in turn and is whizzed out of sight, whirled round uncontrollably and dropped down a level.

Potts plays fast and loose with gender, though avoiding the once traditional female Principal Boy. Bethan Searle plays the Sheriff of Nottingham with a malicious sneer and the sense that she knows it’s all a joke and Emily Vinnicombe invests Freya Tuck with all the cheerful jollity of the friar. Neil Varu (Little Jane) strikes rather an off-key note with his pretend-glamorous opening costume, but things settle when he takes over as the castle school teacher with a head-dress of books, thereby giving the adaptable junior ensemble a chance to enjoy themselves to the tune of School’s Out.

The ever-inventive Nathan Guy belongs to the energetic school of Silly Billies (Will Scarlet, actually) and works the audience with good-humoured bullying. Phoebe Nixon is a sweetly rhyming Fairy Faraway, with the voice to belt out the opening song and Kieran Lynch and Alicia Belgrave look good and sing and dance well as Robin and Marion, Belgrave adding a sly vivacity to her performance.

Runs until 5th January 2025