Stage Plays by Ian Hornby


Courtesy Bridgewater Playes, Cheshire

 

Robin Hood
Pantomime - variable/flexible casting - doubling possible

Synopsis
A rework of the classic tale of Robin Hood.

Marian is not the usual fawning principal - this version has fight and is accompanied by her Nurse, Dame Madonna Kebab. The Sheriff is there, complete with his evil plans and two inept henchmen Twiddle and Twoddle, plus witches, Merry Men - "camp" Little John (who changed his name from Willy), Friar Tuck, Wilma Scarlet and Alan-a-Dale, the minstrel who provides a link between scenes - plus a full supporting cast. 

Much flexibility for casting, from ages to gender.

 

Character - see Casting Note right Lines
Alan-a-Dale a young minstrel

5

Much, the Miller's Son youth part

35

Tuck jolly friar - no, not the local chip-shop!

52

Little John slightly camp Merry Man

44

Twiddle Sheriff's henchman fool

94

Twoddle Sheriff's henchman fool

86

Sheriff of Nottingham boo! hiss!

98

Prince John

14

Robin Hood principal boy

73

Madonna Kebab dame

107

Maid Marian feisty principal girl

87

Sergei a tapas chef

9

Hubble witch, à Macbeth

23

Bubble witch, à Macbeth

22

Will/Wilma Scarlett Merry (wo)man

12

King Richard Sean Connery style cameo

6

Text Messenger walk-on

1

Hasalot villager

4

Hasbeen villager

11

Hasnowt villager

2

Hastugo villager

24


Author's notes
I was always a fan of the character of Robin Hood from when I was a child and my father took me to see a film version starring Richard Todd. Then there was the TV series with Richard Greene.

As a child I was fascinated by bows and arrows so perhaps it was inevitable that my second pantomime would be based on Robin Hood. The story, of course, has imagination layered thickly upon legend (how many people know that Maid Marian only appeared fairly recently?) but I went back as far as I could to be as faithful to the true legend of Robin and Marian as possible before adding the inevitable pantomime collection of bad jokes, worse songs and inane extras.

Because of the constraints of the theatre group I belonged to at the time, Will Scarlett became Wilma, and there's no reason why a few more merry men couldn't transgender. In a recent production we had the Sheriff played by a woman, as well as Will, Much, and Alan-a-Dale. In fact if I changed location from Nottingham to Windsor, I could call it "The Merry Women of Windsor", or has that been done already?

Casting Note: The cast list probably looks a little daunting, but the villagers can all be doubled from other parts, as can Prince John, King Richard, Sergei, etc. minimum cast approximately 14.

 

Courtesy Bishop Auckland TS

Courtesy Round Table Empangeni 61 (South Africa)

Courtesy Bishop Auckland TS