Stage Plays by Ian Hornby
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.
