Review: SHERWOOD THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD at Alabama Shakespeare Festival
The origin story nobody asked for.
By: Russell Warne Mar. 27, 2025
After the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's recent success with Ken Ludwig's Dear Jack, Dear Louise, I was optimistic about their newest production, also penned by Ludwig. Entitled Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood, the play is a logical choice for a Shakespeare Festival. The Robin Hood legend was popular in Shakespeare's time, and the Bard mentions Robin Hood in at least four plays. But whereas Dear Jack, Dear Louise was a touching personal story that centered on two endearing characters, Sherwood is a chaotic, shallow adaptation that lacks the charm of Dear Jack, Dear Louise.
The best thing I can say about Sherwood is that it is not your grandfather's Robin Hood. Sherwood's Robin is not the stereotypical swashbuckler, but rather an introspective, uncertain hero. The play injects novelty in the tale by also using Friar Tuck as a narrator and making Maid Marian more assertive than she is in most versions. There is even a rap about the Magyars, for some reason. Sherwood gets high points for trying something new with an old story.
Left to right: Christopher Gerson as Friar Tuck, Ellen Grace Diehl as Maid Marian, Ronald Román-Meléndez as Robin Hood, and Karack Osborn as Little John. Photo courtesy of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.
But, Ludwig's script is a mess, and no one can fully recover from it. Most of the first third of the play is Robin Hood's origin story, which only serves to pad the running time of the production. When the story does finally get to Robin's life as an outlaw, he is remarkably passive for a main character. Robin often needs encouragement to do much of anything, which does not make him a convincing leader. He is more of a freedom fighter than a highwayman in this version, but any altruistic motivations are forgotten in the final scene. When the action dies down, Robin is more interested in his relationship with Marian; the poor and downtrodden go unmentioned.
All of Robin's assertiveness seems to have been transferred to Marian. Because this adaptation was written in the 21st century, she cannot wait around to be rescued by her man. Instead, she stands up to Guy of Ginsborne and even gives Robin an archery lesson. Essentially, Ludwig trades one stereotype — the damsel in distress — for another: the feminist butt-kicker. If you have seen Fiona in Shrek or any female lead in an action movie from the past 15 years, you have already met a more interesting version of Maid Marian.
Marian, like everyone else in the story, merely exists so that things can happen to Robin. The characters in Sherwood are remarkably one-dimensional, and none have any interesting personality traits. My most charitable interpretation is that this gives the play a genuinely period feel. Like a medieval novella in which characters' actions occur solely to move the story along, the characters in Sherwood are driven by the needs of the plot, not their motivations or their needs. It is authentic, but I doubt that was Ludwig's intention.
Ellen Grace Diehl as Maid Marian. Photo courtesy of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.
Laura Kepley's direction cannot solve the problems in Ludwig's script. Kepley embraces the tongue-in-cheek feel of the story and allows her cast to indulge in some silliness, which provides some relief from the tedium of Sherwood. She also creates the moments where the audience can become part of the story, such as when the house lights brighten during Robin's address to his band of outlaws (implying that the audience is part of his Merry Men).
But the direction sometimes introduces new problems. Kepley uses slow-motion action far too often, and usually it looks ridiculous, not cool. There was even one moment when the slow motion ended in a prolonged pose from the main characters' freeze, and some audience members chuckled inappropriately. When captured, Robin is even beaten in slow motion, which robs the moment of any danger. Even when the action scenes were performed normally, fight director Paul Dennhardt's choreography was executed at about three-quarters speed. The result was careful movement that was definitely safe for the actors, but not pulse-pounding.
Christopher Gerson as Friar Tuck. Photo courtesy of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.
The actors are the best thing going for Sherwood. In the role of Robin Hood, Ronald Román-Meléndez is appealing as a leading character, and he handles the verbal sparring with Marian well. Román-Meléndez has the forcefulness to face off against a villain, and he does have a down-to-earth charm. As Maid Marian, Ellen Grace Diehl is a redheaded firebrand who can also show a charming side. Diehl embraces the flirty moments she is given in the script, and she is largely responsible for the emotional aspects of the story.
The most memorable performer is Michael Doherty, who plays Prince John and several other comedic characters. Doherty gets the lion's share of the laughs, whether he is playing a rapping Magyar, European stereotypes, or the flamboyant Prince John. None of Doherty's characters feels repetitive, and I appreciated that his performance did not wear thin. He was, unfortunately, shouldered with a running gag where Prince John "spontaneously" says famous Shakespearean lines. While a Shakespeare festival crowd will understand these jokes, they have the unfortunate effect of reminding the audience of some much better plays.
Michael Doherty as Prince John. Photo courtesy of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.
But there is only so much that the cast can do to elevate Sherwood. They are fighting against a lot: shallow characters, problematic direction, and even costumes that look mostly like they were assembled from pieces bought from Amazon. Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood is a different kind of Robin Hood story. For some audience members, that will be enough to make it worth seeing. But it will not dethrone most people's favorite rendition of the Robin Hood story.
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