While on one hand it has all the ingredients to make it ‘spectacular’, with aerial acrobatics on ropes from an oak tree that overshadows the stage and characters swishing down a giant grass slide, it’s darker side seems just a little too much when the idea is surely meant to be to delight younger members of the audience. Tongues being ripped out, children watching their father hang and the ecapitation of a priest all seem to be pushing the boundaries of what is meant to be festive fun.

This new version of the story, written by David Farr, sees Marion taking the role of heroine in Sherwood Forest, rescuing children and standing up for common decency, while we have a roguish Robin who robs from the rich and keeps the loot. The new script also has strong Shakespearean influences, with Marion donning the clothes of a man, Robin falling for her and the perfect court jester to boot. But luckily, Icelandic director Gisli Orn Gardarsson seems to have got the balance just right by adding some wonderful comedic capers to even out the dark mood—strange things lurk in the forest pond, Jaws-style, Peter and the Wolf-esque animals play instruments (Peter Bray’s clarinet playing Plug the Dog is a delight, as is the cello playing wild boar) and an hilarious dwarf appears as Little John (wonderfully played by Michael Walter), who ascends and descends in a lobster basket and plays drums during battle scenes. Iris Roberts gives a feisty and sexy performance as Marion and her side-kick, Olafur Darri Olafsson, as Pierre, offers the perfect faux French clown. There are equally good performances by the rest of the ensemble, in particular James McArdle’s Robin Hood and Martin Hutson’s wimpishly evil Prince John.