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.

'Robin Hood and Babes in the Wood' is a Curtin Hayman Theatre production, showing at the Subiaco Arts Centre in Hamersley Road, Subiaco with twice daily shows until Saturday 8th December.

Robin Hood must protect the Green Stone from being stolen. If it is, then the forests will die. The Sherriff of Nottingham has it stolen, but this is witnessed by his late brother's two bimbo daughters – the Babes. He therefore hatches a plan to have them killed, so that he will inherit all of his brother's money. However, despite witches - a la Hansel and Gretel - the good survive.

Little Bo Peep and numerous nursery rhyme characters were in there – even the Bronte sisters, sounding like the Yorkshire men with their ‘cardboard box in middle of road’!

I totally concur with Cernunnon that Tony Nicholls’ scripts are wonderfully clever. He is a great loss to Curtin and they are so lucky that he has supported them with this outstanding tale.

All the elements may be there, but if the delivery is poor and the cast don't connect with the audience then the show can crumble. This pantomime was outstanding; the chorus line shone thanks to directors Duncan Sharp and Kat Shaw. With Claire Nichols' choreography, Bonnie Parker's costumes and Kate Hart's makeup the show was a buzz.

Emma Caporn created a beautiful set on the limited budget, great lighting from Stephen Warren and musical thanks to Bent Hill (his third panto) and Sarah Fay.

Absolutely everyone put their hearts into the show. Probably the best panto that I have seen in many years.

I'm currently on teaching prac with a wonderful class of vibrant little yr2 children. During news time today about 6 of them got up together and explained how they went and saw this show on the weekend and couldn't stop talking about it. They were raving on and on until the class teacher had to stop them. They played games at playtime with the different characters and were quoting it all day. So although I have not personally seen the show I would like to congratulate everyone involved and share with them the impact this show had on these children who are becoming quite the little actors in the making and developing an appreciation for the enjoyment theatre can bring. So thanks from these children for a brilliant afternoon out. ~ Tari The Writer is a child forever listening at the keyhole of the adult world.

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>-/====\---------