Robin Hood & The Babes in the Wood- Hayman Theatre Panto

With panto season now in full swing I wanted to recommend this one to all fans of light-hearted fun. The Hayman Theatre pantomimes are well regarded in Perth, due largely to the excellent scripts provided by Tony Nichols for many years. Robin Hood & The Babes in the Wood is another Nichols classic and should not be missed. The show is high energy, visually stimulating and very engaging. You certainly don't have time to be bored. Most of the cast produce credible and watchable performances. Stand out performances from Hannah Rule as Robin, Whitney Richards and Kate Kelly as The Babes, and Alex Littlewood as Lady Victoria Park, a truly hellish dame if I ever saw one. There are quite a few classic panto gags in the mix, and don't feel put off if you don't know the conventions, the cast do a great job of keeping the audience involved. Adults are going to enjoy this as much as the kids. In fact if I have a criticism, perhaps too much of the humour is aimed at the older crowd- but I didn't hear the kids complaining. Thanks and congratulations to the fresh Haymanites on the panto block.

I might not have seen the play on its best day, but I need to temper the above comments with a complaint about the clarity. I actually didn't find the story to be all that coherent. There were many characters with various agendas and subplots, and the overall thread wasn't entirely clear. And the number one problem in not achieving story clarity was that across the board I had trouble with the vocal clarity. Characters speaking too fast and/or not loudly enough, not enunciating very well, allowing character voice to dominate over clear phrasing, not directing lines toward the audience, in some cases a general lack of vocal modulation, and a lack of precision during the group singing all put barriers in the way of my clear understanding of what was going on. This may sound like a harsh judgement, but I was honestly surprised by how universal a problem it was throughout the play, and it totally diminished the otherwise good work I was witnessing. This feedback will arrive too late to make any difference to the production, but I hope individuals will put it at the top of their skills to focus on in future work. I can't appreciate your good performance if I can't understand you. Cheers, Craig ~<8>-/====\---------

Babel in the Wood ?

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