Review: ROBIN HOOD AND MAID MARIAN, Corn Exchange Newbury

Photo credit: Rich Lakos

Plested, Brown and Wilsher have written the last seven pantomimes at the Corn Exchange in Newbury, and five of the nine cast have returned for this year’s production of Robin Hood and Maid Marian, directed by Amanda Wilsher.

They are supported by in-house lighting from Guy Dickens and sound by Nathan Smith. Together, they know what it takes to put on a good show at this venue, which has no flying capacity and limited space in the forestage and budget for a band of two (Alex Maynard and Luke Hinchliffe). The result is a tightly produced fun production which, on this occasion, requires the three members of the hard-working ensemble (Finley Davies, Abby Fell and Sophie Mckinnon) to play all six members of the Merry Gang as well as the three henchmen to the Sheriff.

The traditional Robin Hood story is a little thin in plot. Robin must defeat the Sheriff to win Maid Marian’s hand by shooting in an archery contest. The Newbury version starts with a topical twist that Robin is overseas winning Race Across the World and Maid Marian (Samara Rawlins) must lead the Merry Band to nearby Burnham Wood in Newburyshire. There are plenty of topical and local references to amuse the audience demonstrating the writers’ local knowledge, most notably that our hero should not be confused with the local Robin Hood roundabout and secret meetings being arranged at the nearby Kennet Centre. Along the way, we get references to Traitors, Evri, Rachel Reeves, Greggs, Oasis, Paddington Bear, bin collections, and Jet2 Holidays as a round up on some of year’s newsworthy events! Another clever twist and nod to the world news is that the evil Sheriff (Alex Crandon) is given an American accent, named Donald, and threatens everyone with increased tariffs as he strives to Make Newburyshire Great Again (MNGA).

Yet the show is dominated by an actor making his professional stage debut, Harry Sweetman as Robin Hood, who has a fabulous stage presence from his first appearance through the audience and proves himself agile, athletic and engages the audiences with ease. The script does call for him to have self doubt in the second act which seemed odd, but he wins through it all. Opposite him, Rawlins makes a feisty modern Marian, although she does eventually succumb to his charms.

Another interesting idea (borrowed from Peter Pan) is that the Fairy (Jenny Perry) is invisible to everybody who does not believe in Fairies and communicates with them though a sweet little red robin puppet. We can, of course, see her (because we believe) and her distinctive two-tone hair (green and mauve) gives her an ethereal earth mother look.

Of course we need a Dame, its pantomime after all, and we are served Graham Mackay-Bruce as a very Scottish nursemaid Nellie to Marian (who looks like she long grew out of needing one). Nellie has great fun mingling with the audience, ad-libbing and making the most of the “adult night” label of the show. It is not overly crude, just a little more emphasis on words and hand gestures to raise easy laughs from the audience. The nearest we get to risqué material is when the Dame summons the gang using his deep throat ivory horn.

Making up the cast is Grace Kelly Miller as Willamina Scarlett, Robin’s second cousin, although he suggests that in Newbury, everybody is a cousin who secures work experience from the Merry Gang and curiously earns her wings by the end. When they all join together in ‘If I Were Not Upon The Stage’ song, the emphasis is on the mayhem and chaos rather than the precise choreography of a perfectly executed version of the classic routine.

The music selection feels very up to date and with rewritten words, we did not recognise many of the songs but we did enjoy ‘Shake it off’, ‘Everybody’ and ‘Go Your Own Way’, if occasionally the rushed lyrics were overwhelmed by the band.

This is a very good quality show, enjoyed by the well lubricated audience, although it did tail off a little in the second half after a very strong - if a little long - first half. This wonderful little venue shows again what can be achieved on limited budgets when you have a creative team who know what it takes and a cast who throw themselves wholeheartedly into the action with great energy and joy, and that is really what we want from a good pantomime.

**** Four stars

Reviewed by: Nick Wayne

Robin Hood and Maid Marian plays at Corn Exchange Newbury until 3 January, with further info here.