For 17 years Strathcona Theatre Company has been a pioneer in theatre for the disabled, devising pieces with learning-disabled professional actors. This modern retelling of the Robin Hood myth has more in common with the physical shows of cutting-edge companies such as Frantic Assembly than it does with the "well-made play". The music has been mixed by Republica club DJ Andy Cleeton, who has worked extensively with Frantic Assembly, and the whole thing aims at high energy and emotional openness.
Hood is too narrative-heavy for its own good, but the piece is fascinating for the way it forges links between disability rights campaigns and the struggles of eco-warriors, as Hood, a young man with a learning disability, angry at the way he is treated, joins forces with a group of outlaws fighting to save the environment. In an age in which the political has been reduced entirely to the personal, Strathcona's linking of one struggle with another is bracing stuff.
The show doesn't always succeed in combining its various elements, and there are technical difficulties - the rap sections are quite hard to hear. But on a good night, when the energy and concentration levels are high, I suspect this is a show that smashes the artificial boundaries between theatre for the disabled and theatre for everyone else.
At Croydon Clocktower tomorrow, Darlington Arts Centre on Tuesday, then touring
***** Unmissable **** Recommended *** Enjoyable ** Mediocre * Terrible
