Robin Hood-Opera House, Manchester

Writers: Harry Michaels, Jason Manford and Ben Nickless

Director and choreographer: Gary Lloyd

During a scene where props malfunction and dialogue is flubbed Jason Manford adlibs the observation it is lucky the press are not in attendance tonight.

Robin Hood, from Crossroads Pantomimes at Manchester’s Opera House, contains all the traditional elements of a panto but takes a refreshing irreverent approach to avoid being stale or ritualised. The comic highpoint of the evening is the traditional ‘list’ song ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ during which the singers constantly undermine and sabotage each other until the sketch concludes with a deliberately staged collapse of scenery. On press night the cast get so carried away there is an actual wig malfunction that is so funny it really ought to become part of the sketch in future.

The panto is written by Harry Michaels (who, curiously, does not have a biography in the programme), Jason Manford and Ben Nickless who also star as, respectively, Robin Hood and Will Scarlet. Manford and Nickless avoid the lazy approach of just inserting material from their comedy stage shows into the panto. Nickless’ impersonations are excellent but are integrated into the plot so that the youngsters do not become puzzled by sudden deviations from the story.

There is a ‘Morecambe and Wise’ vibe to the relationship between Manford and Nickless with the latter a giddy prankster constantly frustrating Manford’s efforts to sing a sincere ballad. The pair, however, makes an excellent cheeky anarchic team; at one point, being Northerners, mocking Sarah Vaughan’s (Maid Marion) Received Pronunciation of the word ‘castle’. The regional acknowledgements continue with Adam Strong’s wonderfully deep-voiced Sheriff of Nottingham threatening to tax the rain in Manchester.

As is now expected from Crossroads Pantomimes act one ends with a spectacular special effect from Twins FX- Manford’s Robin Hood utilising a flying fire engine to thwart the efforts of the Sheriff of Nottingham to burn down Sherwood Forest. The production also uses technology in more basic ways which have a very strong impact. The pretext of Robin Hood needing to recruit more Merry Men involves the simple use of a camera scanning the audience for potential recruits and broadcasting the faces of delighted children and mortified adults onto a screen while Manford and Nickless provide a dry, hilarious commentary.

Traditional panto ingredients are given a modern update. The well-worn ‘ghost’ routine gives young audience members the chance to shout out ‘He’s behind you’ but also develops into dance and comedy routines based upon the songs ‘Thriller’ and ‘Ghostbusters’. Far from being a damsel in distress Maid Marion defeats the Sheriff of Nottingham in a duel while Robin is incapacitated.

Director Gary Lloyd takes the approach that the hard-working ensemble can never stand still so any scene featuring them becomes an energetic high-kicking dance routine.

As is often the case with pantos Robin Hood features the cast performing pop songs but, more unusually, borrows and adapts songs from other musicals.  Jason Manford returns to The Opera House in 2026 with Something Rotten from which he cheerfully appropriates and tweaks ‘It’s a Musical’ into ‘It’s a Pantomime’.

Apart from the occasional reference to Friar Tuck being eliminated from the Merry Men in case of mispronunciation there is a blessed absence of suggestive ‘nudge-nudge, wink-wink’ jokes. Actually, the only parts of the panto which are not completely successful are efforts at topical humour with gags about the former Prince Andrew falling a bit flat.  The priority throughout is to satisfy the young members of the audience who delight in singing tongue-twisting lyrics or being caught on camera.

Robin Hood at Opera House, Manchester, is a cheeky festive treat for children and their grown-ups.

Runs until 4^th January 2026