LEE MEAD

What followed was great singing, dancing, acting, and swordplay by our man. (Oh and everybody else didn’t do too badly either!) All too soon the predatory Webster was slain (I felt so sorry for people with phobias of spiders knowing how I’d feel if a giant fish started swooping towards me!). And we had to wait for more till the interval was over. After what seemed a very long twenty minutes, the music started again, and after a short while, our man was back. Brilliant as ever right up till that last moment when the curtain came down on our man, and his posh Earl of Loxley togs.

 

Everybody was good in the show but here are a few special mentions, saving the best till last...

 

NIGEL HAVERS AS SHERIFF OF NOTTINGHAM A very bad man indeed but so well-acted – being evil and amusing takes some doing but Nigel managed it. His telling Marion “He can’t speak to you because he’s DEAD” as if he was speaking to a slightly foolish five-year-old really amused me. One slight criticism, his singing voice was drowned out by the orchestra which was a shame as his song was quite funny although heavily censored from when I heard it on Comic Relief. He was good interacting with the audience and his “you said no, didn’t you?” to the audience when they were all shouting to Robin not to drink the ‘wine’ was delightfully devious, trying to get them to shout “yes.” Good sword-fighting too but not quite as fast as our main man’s. Which is why he lost, hee hee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LEE AS ROBIN HOOD And so we come to the icing on the cake. Lee was brilliant in this role. He countered Maid Marion’s girlie soppiness with romantic hero soppiness delightfully with just the right amount of tongue in cheek. He danced like a professional and sang like – well, like only Lee can. He was athletic, swinging about on wooden poles, sliding down a large electronic elephant – try saying that when you’ve had too much wine – and sword-fighting like one of the Musketeers. He made us believe Robin was idealistic and naïve with the Sheriff in Act 2, rather than stupid, and I can only add to the people on this forum who’ve already praised his breath control and acting technique in the ‘death’ scenes. He revived wonderfully and went off like a true hero to save Marion. And what about his clever James Blunt imitation? Wow.