Synopsis
Our story starts in 1191 when King Richard leaves England to fight in the Crusades, taking with him all the nobelmen of the land and those of fighting age. Robin was one of the first to enlist leaving behind his father, Earl of Loxley, and the lovely Maid Marion. Back in Nottingham the corrupt Sheriff is in charge of the land and he takes great delight in raising taxes and plunging his subjects into poverty, subjects who include Marion and Loxley, and locking them up if they can't pay. He is in league with Morgana, an evil witch who makes premenitions of a hooded man coming to save the people. The Sheriff ignores her warnings and takes Marion and Loxley into custody, telling Marion that he will take her for his bride now that Robin isn't there to protect her. Marion sings a song from her window and Robin join in (the magic of the musicals) before making the decision to return home.
Unfortunately for Robin he doesn't get the homecoming he was expecting. He runs into Little John and the two take an instant disliking to each other. With John's crowd of followers egging him on the two have a fight, during which Robin suggests they join forces to take down the Sheriff. After a bit more singing and some disbelieving cries from the village rabble John comes around to Robin's way of thinking, understanding that they will be stronger together. The peasants, however, need a little more convincing as they would much rather spend all day doing nothing except chilling out in the forest. Robin manages to see Marion in her tower and she throws him down her hood so he can hide his face and escape. Robin runs encounters Friar Tuck and persuades him to join their gang and we reach the end of the first Act.
The second Act opens a year later when Robin has trained up the peasants into a band who he calls his Merry Men. We're introduced to all the characters (in song of course) and hear of their plans to take back all the gold from the Sheriff. In an audatious robbery they manage to steal a years worth of taxes as they are being transported through the forest and proceed to distribute it to the poor and needy. The Sheriff is furious with this and he knows exactly who is to blame. After a bit of scheming with Morgana he decides to marry Marion and hopes that Robin will try and rescue her and so fall into his trap.
When Robin hears of the upcoming wedding he hatches a plan to marry her first. With Friar Tuck and Little John he sneaks up to the window where Marion is still being kept but unfortunately the Sheriff appears and the trio are captured. A triple hanging is planned but a hooded figure appears from the crowd and tells everyone to stop. The stranger pulls off his disguise and reveals himself to be King Richard, back from the Crusades and not happy at all with the way the Sheriff is running things. A massive fight breaks out during which the prisoners escape, the witch flees and the Sheriff is killed. All very dramatic! Only one thing could cement the good feeling of this happy ending and that's a wedding. Marion and Robin embrace and are finally joined in matrimony by Friar Tuck.
Good has triumphed over evil... hooray!
Unfortunately for Robin he doesn't get the homecoming he was expecting. He runs into Little John and the two take an instant disliking to each other. With John's crowd of followers egging him on the two have a fight, during which Robin suggests they join forces to take down the Sheriff. After a bit more singing and some disbelieving cries from the village rabble John comes around to Robin's way of thinking, understanding that they will be stronger together. The peasants, however, need a little more convincing as they would much rather spend all day doing nothing except chilling out in the forest. Robin manages to see Marion in her tower and she throws him down her hood so he can hide his face and escape. Robin runs encounters Friar Tuck and persuades him to join their gang and we reach the end of the first Act.
The second Act opens a year later when Robin has trained up the peasants into a band who he calls his Merry Men. We're introduced to all the characters (in song of course) and hear of their plans to take back all the gold from the Sheriff. In an audatious robbery they manage to steal a years worth of taxes as they are being transported through the forest and proceed to distribute it to the poor and needy. The Sheriff is furious with this and he knows exactly who is to blame. After a bit of scheming with Morgana he decides to marry Marion and hopes that Robin will try and rescue her and so fall into his trap.
When Robin hears of the upcoming wedding he hatches a plan to marry her first. With Friar Tuck and Little John he sneaks up to the window where Marion is still being kept but unfortunately the Sheriff appears and the trio are captured. A triple hanging is planned but a hooded figure appears from the crowd and tells everyone to stop. The stranger pulls off his disguise and reveals himself to be King Richard, back from the Crusades and not happy at all with the way the Sheriff is running things. A massive fight breaks out during which the prisoners escape, the witch flees and the Sheriff is killed. All very dramatic! Only one thing could cement the good feeling of this happy ending and that's a wedding. Marion and Robin embrace and are finally joined in matrimony by Friar Tuck.
Good has triumphed over evil... hooray!
Characters
- Robin - our hero. Robin returns from the crusades to rescue Maid Marion and his father from the evil Sheriff. He meets a rag-tag band of men on the way and joins forces with them to take on the Sheriff's men.
- Marion - the heroine of the story. Marion is staying with Robin's father when she is taken from the market place by the Sheriff who has ideas of marriage and knows that only Marion will do. She spends most of the show locked up and is tormented by the Sheriff's lady friends who think she's after their man. She is released when the Sheriff is vanquished and runs into the arms of her beloved Robin. They marry and presumably live happily ever after!
- The Sheriff of Nottingham - the villian of the piece. The Sheriff is power hungry and takes advantage of King Richard's absence fighting the crusades to up the taxes in Nottingham and arrest anyone who can't pay him. Whilst the people are starving he is living in relative luxary, taking advice from an evil witch, drinking and generally having a good time. He persuades Marion to marry him by promising to set free Robin's father but then he captures Robin, Little John and Friar Tuck when they try and rescue Marion. He arranging a public hanging during which the King returns and in the sword fight that follows, the Sheriff is killed.
- Morgana - the witch. Morgana uses the power of the runes to look into the future and to give advice to the Sheriff. Her advice doesn't always lead to him taking the best course of action and it is his paranoia about a "man of the cloth" who she sees which leads him to arrest Friar Tuck.
- Friar Tuck - a very fat, very greedy man of the cloth. Tuck would rather make sure his belly was full than fight the Sheriff but he goes along with Robin's plans and finds himself in the hangman's noose before their dramatic escape.
- Little John - not little in any way, leader of the merry men. After a bit of a tense first meeting, John realises that with Robin's skills and nerve they have a much better chance of taking on the Sheriff if they take Robin on as their leader. He has a bit of a job persuading his lazy followers though!
Popular Songs
As Robin, Prince of Sherwood isn't very well known it's a bit of a push to call them popular songs but here are a few of my favourites from the show:
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Creators
Peter Howarth
Howarth (1960-present) is the current lead singer of the British band, The Hollies and was a long time backing vocalist for Cliff Richard. He learnt to play the guitar at the age of 7 taking classical guitar lessons up to grade 8. By the age of 17, Howarth had become fascinated with the electric guitar and wanted to be in "the best band in the world". He has done lots of sessions work and can be heard on recordings with Kylie Minogue, Robert plant and many others, as well as many jingles and adverts for radio and television.
Howarth (1960-present) is the current lead singer of the British band, The Hollies and was a long time backing vocalist for Cliff Richard. He learnt to play the guitar at the age of 7 taking classical guitar lessons up to grade 8. By the age of 17, Howarth had become fascinated with the electric guitar and wanted to be in "the best band in the world". He has done lots of sessions work and can be heard on recordings with Kylie Minogue, Robert plant and many others, as well as many jingles and adverts for radio and television.
Rick Fenn
Fenn is an English rock guitarist who has been a member of the band 10CC since 1976. From 1979 he also recorded and toured with Mike Oldfield, co-writing the song Family Man which was a hit for Hall & Oates. He has toured with many other artists over the years including Rick Wakeman, Elkie Brooks and Jack Bruce. From the late 80s he devoted more time to composing, writing numerous scores for tv documentaries, dramas, comedies and feature films. When not working with 10CC, Rick spends most of his time in Australia.
Fenn is an English rock guitarist who has been a member of the band 10CC since 1976. From 1979 he also recorded and toured with Mike Oldfield, co-writing the song Family Man which was a hit for Hall & Oates. He has toured with many other artists over the years including Rick Wakeman, Elkie Brooks and Jack Bruce. From the late 80s he devoted more time to composing, writing numerous scores for tv documentaries, dramas, comedies and feature films. When not working with 10CC, Rick spends most of his time in Australia.
Productions
Interesting facts
- Robin, Prince of Sherwood is entirely musical with no spoken sections between the songs. This is rare amongst musicals and means that all the emotions of the characters need to be conveyed during the songs as they have no pauses or dialogue to fall back on.
- Fenn and Howarth met when Peter was singing on a beer advert.
- Peter Howarth played the role of the Sheriff of Nottingham in the West End and touring production.
Am Dram Corner
I had a blast performing in this show and have the DVD of our performance but I'm struggling to get clips from it to add here. I'll keep trying!