ROBIN
HOOD AND THE BABES IN THE WOOD
A
BRAND NEW PANTOMIME ADVENTURE FROM JANICE HONEYMAN
Riding through the royal forest of Sherwood on a
glorious May morning, you don’t have a care in the world. Then you hear a bird call, the faint rustling
of trees, and suddenly a man armed with a longbow appears in your path. He wears a feathered cap, or is that a
hood? You can’t see the man’s face
clearly, but you don’t have to. He is
dressed in Lincoln green, the colour of Robin Hood – the most famous English
outlaw of all time.
The earliest surviving Robin Hood ballad, Robin Hood and The Monk, dates from the
15th Century. Subsequently, the legend
has become one of the most popular movie and TV stories of all time: from Robin Hood and His Merry Men, a 1908
silent film; to British television’s long-running series The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955-59); to 1973’s Walt Disney’s Robin Hood; to Mel Brooks’
hilarious Robin Hood: Men in Tights
(1993); and to the 2010 movie Robin Hood,
directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe.
And now comes
Janice Honeyman’s brand new pantomime adventure, Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood, on the stage of The Mandela
at Joburg Theatre from November 5th to December 30th 2016.
The plot combines the babes-lost-in-the-forest story with
the Robin Hood legend. The young
children, Hansel and Gretel, come to visit their uncle, the Sheriff of
Nottingham, little suspecting that he is plotting their demise. But never fear, help is at hand – in the
shape of Robin and his Merry Men, plus Maid Marian and the Spirit of the
Forest!
Playing the role of Robin in his first Joburg Theatre
pantomime is Izak Davel, best known to TV viewers as Isidingo’s arrogant Bradley Haines, and whose hit recordings
include Verlei My, Is Jy In Of Is Jy Uit and Vreesloos.
Much loved panto star Desmond Dube returns to
Joburg Theatre to play the jovial Friar Tuck, Idols finalist Bongi Mthombeni features in his fifth Joburg Theatre
pantomime as the dandy Will Scarlet and leading lady of South African musical
theatre, Kate Normington, will surely be wildly comic as Silly Sylviana, the
Spirit of the Forest!
Also featured in Robin
Hood and the Babes in the Wood are Graham Hopkins as the villainous Norman
the Nasty, Sheriff of Nottingham, L J Urbani as the ever-popular panto Dame
Emmarentia Ugly, Phumi Mncayi as chief lieutenant of the Merry Men, Little
John, award-winning actress Candida Mosoma as Much the Miller’s Son, the beautiful Carmen Pretorius as Robin’s love
interest, Maid Marian, and Jaco Van Rensburg as the wandering minstrel,
Alan-a-Dale.
Joining them in the all-South-African cast are; TeeKay Baloyi, Darius Engelbrecht, Clive Gilson, Nuritt
Graff, Kyra Green, Dirk Joubert, Dolly Louw, Yamikani Mahaka-Phiri, Tsepho
Ncokoane, Noni Nkonto, Dale Scheepers, Natasha Van Der Merwe and Maryanne Van
Eyssen.
“It’s an exciting year for us when Janice Honeyman
writes a brand new pantomime script,” says Bernard Jay, Executive Producer of
the panto. “We don’t know exactly what to expect until the last minute, but we
do know it will be full of her magical flair for story-telling, spectacular
special effects, zany comedy and outrageous double
entendres!”
Writer/Director Janice Honeyman has collaborated with producer
Bernard Jay on their sixteenth Joburg Theatre pantomime together. Musical direction under Rowan Bakker; Nicol Sheraton as choreographer; the eagerly anticipated,
over-the-top, fabulous sets & costumes are supplied by Qdos from the
UK; Lighting design by Graham McLusky; sound design by Trevor Peters;
and Director Timothy Le Roux.
Robin Hood and the
Babes in the Wood has preview performances on The Mandela stage at
Joburg Theatre on November 5th and 6th with tickets from R170. The official Opening Night is Sunday, November 6th and will be on stage until December 30th, with tickets
priced from R220.
Over 30,000 tickets
have already been sold for this year’s panto, so best to hurry and get yours
now for South Africa’s most popular family entertainment tradition.
Tickets are available by visiting www.joburgtheatre.com or calling 0861 670 670, as well as through Webtickets and at
Pick ‘n’ Pay stores.
For group bookings of 10 or more, contact the theatre
directly on 011 877 6853/6815.
