Sedition is being preached in normally sedate Bath, where Robin Hood is defying King John and the Sheriff of Nottingham and redistributing wealth. A framing device in writer and director Greg Banks’s script provides a reminder that the poor are always with us and in need of their own Robin Hood. It also plays lightly on the way myths are made and the power of stories to light the winter darkness and offer hope.
It’s swashbuckling fun even if the episodic plot leeches tension and the characters are not sharply defined. Robin’s vanity is hinted at but not really explored; Maid Marian seems to undergo a skills and personality transplant in the second half, morphing into a crack archer without another thought for her threatened father. There are other casualties: a little sister goes up in flames in a burning cottage and nobody seems to notice or care.
But an all-female ska band, the Marianettes, are a constant delight, and the fights are thrilling. The height of the theatre is neatly utilised even if Hannah Wolfe’s enticing adventure playground-style design requires more athletic actors to reach its potential. Best of all, the show counters earnestness with a nice comic edge. King John is wheeled around in a tub bathing in his loot, offering a new take on the idea of dirty money.
• At the Egg, Bath, until 15 January. Box office: 01225 448844.
