REVIEW: Robin Hood: The Legend. Re-written. at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre

The programme tells us that the origins of Robin Hood are in 1220 in Yorkshire, but I was brought up watching the black and white TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood (made between 1955-1959) starring Richard Greene and for me, those characters will forever be defined by those creations. It has always been a story of good triumphing over evil, of the redistribution of wealth and of people who value the woodlands, so I am not sure why it needs to be rewritten. Carl Goose seeks to reinvent the characters for a modern social and political landscape with a rebalancing of gender roles and I assume to attract new audiences to the folk hero. You are at least notified of what to expect by the colon and “Re-written”, it is never a good sign to see punctuation in the title!

Having seen a great many shows in the last week, I felt I was in some sort of nightmare where so many influences were jumbled up with my memories. Monty Pythonesque Barons trotted on, recast from The Holy Grail. The eye-gouging and graphic violence of “The Pillowman” regularly appeared. The overbearing authority figures dressed in black decreeing death to all appeared from “The Crucible”. The Balladeer from “Assassins” popped up to narrate a link. The King (unnamed) stumbled around, and I expected him to break into “You'll be back” from “Hamilton” at any moment. When the soldiers appeared in hi-vis jackets, I thought Viggo Venn (from Britain’s got talent) was going to prance around the stage at any moment. Then when three Robin Hoods appeared I at least recognised them as being part of the story, Richard Greene’s version in Lincoln green tights, Michael Praed’s version from the 1980’s Robin of Sherwood and a third who represented every other Robin there has been from Yorkshire, Newcastle, Ireland, and Canada. Indeed, their appearances provided some of the best moments of humour and audience appreciation.

The plot and imagery used throughout suggested it was developed in the same drug-fuelled haze that the Sheriff (Alex Mugnaioni) had placed the King (Paul Hunter) in with a flask of tea with the compliance of Simpkins (Katherine Manners). Marion (in this version the sheriff’s’ wife) played by Ellen Robertson, is elevated to an all-action heroine with a strong attitude of “I have no interest, I don’t like children”. Little John becomes a former clown with stage fright called Little Joan (Charlotte Beaumont) and Friar Tuck becomes Mary Tuck (Elexi Walker). Much the Miller (Dave Fishley) survives the rewrite, but his son becomes a girl called Woodnut (Dumile Sinbanda). Will Scarlocke (Samuel Gosrani) only becomes Will Scarlett when he is savagely killed in a pool of blood having had his fingers chopped off early on! The dreaded Guy of Gisburne, the assassin with a lust for blood in battle, becomes a self-flagellating bare-chested anti-hero (Ira Mandela Siobhan). There are some very experienced actors in this cast who deserve better material to work with.

Of course, the Regent's Park Open Air theatre is a perfect setting for a show set in woodlands about stopping a new road being ploughed through the trees and there can be nothing better than sitting on summer’s evening listening to the bird calls. However, Chiara Stephenson's stark set of metal and rocks, like some huge half-finished concrete garden from TV’s Garden Rescue, with fluffy blue elastic to suggest (I think) trees and undergrowth is cumbersome and unattractive. The king sits high up in one tower for long periods and characters frequently are called on the climb the pillars to reach the higher platform which represents the Castle. The huge bronze coloured revolve at one point is manually turned by Bob Much, but most times spins smoothly to signal a change of scene although the appearance looks the same.

The wonderful John Bulleid does at least try and inject some magic and illusion into the production with effective arrows piercing the shoes of the sheriff, apples shot through while held aloft and the huge target for the contest, though since the bowmen fire with their backs to the target towards the audience, the illusion is somewhat undermined. There is good business with a floating tickled trout. The lopping off of a head which rolls across the stage and the finger chopping and animated fingers across the stage are well done with the balance between gruesome reality and comic effect being just right. 

The musical interludes have an appropriate feel of medieval feel until the Mock Ball when we have a trio singing “Chirpy, Chirpy, Cheep, Cheep”, another childhood memory of mine bursting into the story from my family holiday in Spain in 1971! “Where’s your mama gone” they sing for no obvious reason. It all adds to the jumble of ideas that almost bury the legend of Robin Hood without a trace. A short burst of Clannad’s famous theme tune for Robin of Sherwood, merely reminds you of the mysticism, authenticity and quality of this famous TV version, all elements missing from this production.

At one point someone says of Robin “He was here, he was there and every bloody where”, not a reference I think to the Beatles song of 1966 nor I think a reference to the Scarlett Pimpernel, an illusive character from the eighteenth century but perhaps a reference to how the legend has evolved in folklore since Robin’s first appearance in 1220. Whatever was intended this production will not add to the folklore around this iconic character. 

Review by Nick Wayne

Rating: ★★

Seat: Row M | Price of Ticket: £65