Writer-director Theresa Heskins conceived her version of the Robin Hood legend to coincide with the 800th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta. Yet when she came to study the document, she was slightly disappointed to find “an arcane legal treatise which seemed to be more concerned with weights and measures and fishing”.
Still, it would be a pity to let the facts get in the way of a good story. Heskins serves up a great feast of medieval merrymaking, in which King John eventually agrees to put pen to parchment under pressure from a jolly band of outlaws. Laura Clarkson’s green-canopied design even has calligraphic fragments of the roots of democracy entwined among the roots of the forest floor.
Even if the history is dubious, Heskins strives to get the details right, from the archery (with coaching provided from a local longbow club) to the falconry (achieved thanks to some wonderfully articulated avian puppets). It’s also the first version of the legend I’ve seen that involves the merry men adopting a small dragon as their mascot. Perhaps it’s the one that was reputed to guard the Staffordshire Hoard, which the New Vic celebrated in fine style with its Anglo-Saxon festival last summer.
There are rousing new songs by musical director James Atherton and a terrific concluding tournament scene, in which the New Vic’s circular stage becomes a giant target fired at from the balcony. Isaac Stanmore’s Robin swings from the chandeliers with aplomb and there’s a great characterisation of King John by Perry Moore as a petulant milksop tied to the apron strings of Charlotte Palmer’s disapproving Eleanor of Aquitaine. Whatever King John’s actual words were upon the signing of Magna Carta, I rather doubt it was: “Mummy, it hurts.”
• At the New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme until 30 January. Box office: 01782 717962.
