This is Devon -- ROBIN HOOD Theatre Royal, Plymouth, until January 25 In Peter Pan you had to believe in fairies and clap your hands to save poor Tinker Bell; in Robin Hood the audience had to call our hero's name to save him and defeat the evil Sheriff of Nottingham. We yelled until we could yell no more. And the magic worked! Robin was saved and gets the girl... It's a tough trick to pull off in pantomime – to tread the fine line between naughty jokes about bottoms and bosoms, but still present a love story that is both charming and believable. A good panto needs all the silly slapstick, but it needs a healthy dose of schmaltz too. It's no good just playing at it though. The little girls in the audience want Robin Hood (a winsome Lee Mead) and Maid Marion (Maria Coyne) to sigh, make cow eyes at each other, fall in love and marry. And they did a lovely job of it without poking fun. It's up to others to bring comedy into the mix and Robin Hood was well-served by a traditional panto dame, Tilly Tuck (Jeffrey Holland) and the energetic Bobby Davro as Will Scarlet. In panto, performers play to their strengths – so Lee Mead has to sing Any Dream Will Do from the show that made him famous – and Bobby Davro proved to be a performer with great comic timing and a darned fine singing voice with an impressive range of vocal impressions too. If Bobby Davro was the surprise of the night for me, then Nigel Havers was the delight as the Sheriff of Nottingham ("boo!"). He relished his role as pantomime baddie, whipping up the audience with great dexterity. It was much more fun than I'd anticipated. I'd never regarded Robin Hood as a "proper" panto so it was nice to see so many traditional elements in there. Some of the jokes were a bit "cheeky" but would have gone over the heads of any little ones. It's difficult balancing all the elements to provide something lavish yet fun. But Robin Hood scores a bullseye.
Reported by This is 6 hours ago.
This is Devon -- ROBIN HOOD Theatre Royal, Plymouth, until January 25 In Peter Pan you had to believe in fairies and clap your hands to save poor Tinker Bell; in Robin Hood the audience had to call our hero's name to save him and defeat the evil Sheriff of Nottingham. We yelled until we could yell no more. And the magic worked! Robin was saved and gets the girl... It's a tough trick to pull off in pantomime – to tread the fine line between naughty jokes about bottoms and bosoms, but still present a love story that is both charming and believable. A good panto needs all the silly slapstick, but it needs a healthy dose of schmaltz too. It's no good just playing at it though. The little girls in the audience want Robin Hood (a winsome Lee Mead) and Maid Marion (Maria Coyne) to sigh, make cow eyes at each other, fall in love and marry. And they did a lovely job of it without poking fun. It's up to others to bring comedy into the mix and Robin Hood was well-served by a traditional panto dame, Tilly Tuck (Jeffrey Holland) and the energetic Bobby Davro as Will Scarlet. In panto, performers play to their strengths – so Lee Mead has to sing Any Dream Will Do from the show that made him famous – and Bobby Davro proved to be a performer with great comic timing and a darned fine singing voice with an impressive range of vocal impressions too. If Bobby Davro was the surprise of the night for me, then Nigel Havers was the delight as the Sheriff of Nottingham ("boo!"). He relished his role as pantomime baddie, whipping up the audience with great dexterity. It was much more fun than I'd anticipated. I'd never regarded Robin Hood as a "proper" panto so it was nice to see so many traditional elements in there. Some of the jokes were a bit "cheeky" but would have gone over the heads of any little ones. It's difficult balancing all the elements to provide something lavish yet fun. But Robin Hood scores a bullseye.
Reported by This is 6 hours ago.