Review: SHERWOOD: THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD at Village Theatre

Author Ken Ludwig has certainly had a prolific career filled with some wonderful gems, “Crazy for You”, “Lend Me a Tenor”, and “Moon Over Buffalo” to name just a few.  So, Village Theatre’s new production of his 2017 work, “Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood” sounds like a rollicking good time.  Unfortunately, this new retelling of a classic adventure meanders about awkwardly not knowing what it wants to be.  And that’s just one of the two big problems of a production that just laid there hoping the audience would find something funny in it.

It's the same old story we all know.  Nobleman, Robin of Locksley (Ricky Spaulding) is fed up with the evil Prince John (Nathaniel Tenenbaum) and the Sheriff of Nottingham (Mark Emerson) taxing the poor to death, so he and his band of Merry Men rob from the rich to give to the poor.  It’s a tale known all too well.  So, if you want to tell it again, you need a fresh take on it.  Sadly, there is not one here. 

Ludwig’s script hits the high points and then tries to jazz things up.  They take the damsel in distress, Maid Marian (Alegra Batara) and turn her into not a victim but a bad ass warrior Princess (the only good change in the show).  But then they tried to inject humor throughout.  Or partially throughout.  Sometimes.  But not always.  And the humor was not great.  It was like a series of awkward Dad jokes that garnered courtesy laughs at best.  But the worst part of it wasn’t the unfunny nature of it all, but that the show never figured out what it wanted to be.  Is it a farcical romp in the vein of Robin Hood, or a swashbuckling adventure?  And if it could have chosen one of those maybe they could have made it good, instead both paths led to moments falling flat like a lead balloon and me checking my watch every five minutes to see how much closer we were to freedom. 

But not all of this is on the shoulders of Ludwig, director Adam Immerwahr too couldn’t stick to a tone.  At the top we get a goofy narration from Brandon O’Neill as Friar Tuck and a great gag of someone being shot with an arrow, collapsing comically, and then taking out the arrow only to have blood spurt up so he put the arrow back.  A fun bit, and one of the last we would get.  Immerwahr occasionally threw in another anachronistic gag or somewhat silly moment but never seemed to fully commit to the tone.  Do you want the audience to cheer and respond? Then get us going early.  Do you want a satirical romp?  Then commit to that.  Do you want a swashbuckling adventure?  Then give us better stage fights.  Aside from that first gag with the arrow, any other gags or fights or love stories felt half baked, and the funniest moment of the show came from an ad lib as Prince John stole a marshmallow from a campfire.  But even that was a “blink and you’ll miss it” kind of thing.

The cast does what they can but are hampered by a less than stellar script.  The dashing Spaulding and lovely Batara make for a decent pair of lovers but aren’t given much to work with.  Similarly, the villain, Sir Guy played by Billy Finn, swaggers about stage with lame dialog and even has a moment where he encounters the elusive Robin Hood but then just walks away.  The Merry Men, O’Neill as Friar Tuck, Quinlan Corbett as Little John, and Arika Matoba as Deorwynn feel like an afterthought.  The ones that make the most of the show would be Emerson and Tenenbaum as they are the best at trying to make this unfunny show funny, but even they look as if they’re trying too hard at this unsurmountable task.

The show has its moments, but they are way too few and far between.  With missed opportunities and jokes that were stale when Robin Hood was a boy, this rollicking romp just ends up being an exercise in awkward as jokes, bits and gags are met with crickets and sword fights feel like they’re happening at half speed.  And don’t even get me started with the inexplicable dance routine at the end of the show.  I expect better from Ken Ludwig and Village.  And so, with my three-letter rating system, I give Village Theatre’s production of “Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood” a saddened NAH.  The only thing this Robin Hood stole was my evening.

“Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood” performs at Village Theatre in Issaquah through October 15th before moving to their Everett location running October 21st through November 12th.  For tickets or information visit them online at www.villagetheatre.org.

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