There are many characters in Robin Hood. These include the principals (Robin Hood, Maid Marion, The Sheriff, PJ, Lady Baybridge etc...) and the chorus. The chorus comprises soldiers, merry men and ladies in waiting. Every character has a name, most based on place-names local to Calverton. For a production out of Nottinghamshire, these may have to be changed, but could be left unchanged to no detriment of the whole pantomime. In classic panto style, Robin Hood is best played by a girl and Lady Baybridge played by a boy. And don't forget Eric the panto horse and Bullseye the dog.
Different theatre groups are different sizes – it’s the way of the world. Most of the characters in Robin Hood can be altered to accommodate this. With the minimum of fuss characters can be merged or split, and be either male or female with little detrimental effect on the performance. A few of the characters work best played as a particular gender - mainly the Ladies in waiting, Robin, Marion and Lady Baybridge. But these can also be played by either gender as necessary.
The set for Robin Hood can be as simple or as complex as desired. There are only two sets necessary - Sherwood Forest and Nottingham Castle.
For CYT’s production, we used a backdrop for the forest with carefully placed tree flats, and a log. For the castle we closed half-blacks on the stage, removed the trees (!) and placed a throne and table on stage.
Robin Hood is best performed with plenty of songs, as is any pantomime. But this is not necessary. There are a number of places in the script which are suggested as good places for songs, but these can be ignored at will.
Very few sound effects are needed in Robin Hood. The few mentioned in the script (including arrows, jet planes) can, like the songs, be ignored or added to as necessary.
The lighting plot is also simple. There are no required effects, so a simple "make-sure-we-can-see" approach is all that is needed.
Di Smith
Pam Craven
Marion Throup