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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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Thigh
slapping alive and well Robin Hood Hall Green
Little Theatre ***
THE harvest is safely gathered in at Hall Green Little Theatre with
enough corn for all of south Birmingham . . . and most of Solihull . . .
in a lively festive offering straying just a little from the beaten
tracks of Cinders, Sleeping Beauty, Dick Whittington and the like. A stroll through Sherwood
Forest was not enough though to lose the awful jokes and puns that would
make even a Christmas cracker joke writer of low self-esteem blush with
embarrassment. Although the cast did lose one
feature of little theatre traditional pantos
throughout the kingdom, it was noticeable a couple of times in chorus
numbers that all the cast were moving, with arms waving vaguely in
unison, in roughly the same direction at the same time and that they
were all singing the same words. As a veteran of pantos where
merely getting all the chorus on stage at the same time and in
the right order was an achievement this was a
revelation, The story was fairly simple to
follow, as simple as the castle guards Asbo (Charlie Crow) and Subo
(Ross Shaw) if we are honest. We have the Sherriff of Nottingham played
with black-costumed and black-hearted
evility (is that a word? Ed) by Richard Woodward (boo, hiss) who has the
hots, or in his case, ice colds, for Maid
Marion, played feistily by Rachael Louise
Pickard. But Marion loves Robin
Hood, who is a traditional principal boy, which might confuse those of a
nervous disposition, a principal boy
is traditionally a
girl, in this case the lively Jennie E Almond
who in turn, or at least in character, loves Marion
– big Aaaaaah please.
Marion is chaperoned by Nurse
Knickerbocker, a traditional dame, played with gusto and bags of
enthusiasm by Ryan Knight who did his level best to work the audience. And, he didn’t make the
mistake of which some of the cast were
guilty in delivering lines while the audience were
still laughing. The golden rule of panto is
milk every line for every drop – oh no it isn’t! Oh yes it is! Oh no it
. . . (get on with it. Ed!) The Merry Men, and in this
case merry women as well, gave us Friar Tuck, Dave to his friends, (John
Bourbonneux), Mutch the Miller (Gemma McCaffrey), Little John (David
Hurst) and Em-A-Dale (Sarah Lamb – cue soap music). Then there was the head guard
played by Ryan Timothy Price trying to keep order and the
assorted minions, guards
and peasants played by Pascal Bourke, Jack Heath and Oscar Davies. And in the regal corner we had
Prince John played by James Boyce and a late entrance by King Richard
played by the director Dean Taylor. Meanwhile in the bowels of the
earth under the stage we had the band, or at least Jordan Edwards on
drums and the versatile and excellent Geddes
Cureton on keyboards who was, I suspect, the source of the start of many
a shout and chant. Either that or one of the youngsters or mums in the
front row had a very loud, deep voice. We had hypnotism, a modicum of
slapstick, swordfights any Morris dancer would be proud of and an
archery contest in the dark, castle walls that floated – something they
were not meant to do methinks – and a singalong to finish. It’s
Christmas, corny jokes, enthusiasm a plenty, unlikely plot and daft
characters – so what is not to like. To 14-12-13. Roger Clarke |
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