Robin Hood panto hits a bull's eye

You can get away with a lot in a pantomime and Capitol Theatre’s production of Robin Hood certainly takes you for a ride.

It’s daffy. It’s campy. It’s completely silly and highlighted by a lot of cross-dressing.

Ron Pederson is the self-styled people’s hero who steals the Sheriff of Nottingham’s looted collection of taxes and returns it to the poor.

But Robin, garbed in Sherwood green, is a bit unorthodox in his fight method. With the aid of Jocelyn Ahlf’s Little John, he re-steals a chest of taxes headed for Prince John’s treasury, ties up the dim-witted sheriff (Trent Wilkie) and pulls his pants down.

Robin is also a bit of an egotistical idiot who can’t stand the idea of being beaten at archery by St. Albert actor Madeleine Knight’s independent and adventurous Maid Marion.

Things become erratic for our beloved hero when the fiendishly evil Prince John played by Davina Stewart puts a price on his head. He hopes to capture Robin by hosting an archery contest knowing Robin cannot resist competing.

What the highly conceited prince doesn’t expect is Maid Marion’s skill as an archer throwing a wrench in his plans or that the rather stupid sheriff will rebel against him.

Rounding out the cast is the adorable and utterly outrageous Dame Spiffy Wickerbasket, tutor to Prince John and lady companion to Marion.

Just watching a blonde-wigged Andy Northrup, a six-foot actor with a deep voice, strut daintily across the stage in a hooped skirt flicking a delicate fan is an instant chuckler.

The panto is surprisingly non-political with virtually no references to the economy, big oil or even the Trumpian election. But that’s not to say there are no pop culture references.

For starters, playwright Jocelyn Ahlf set the play in Sherwood Park Forest highlighted with a full-size screen at the back of the stage that constantly changes location images.

And the entire cast fires salvos at various pop culture pillars such as Marvel Comics, Star Trek, Chef Boyardee, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Italian gondoliers.

In addition to Ahlf’s general script, there are quite a few refreshing detours as the fast-on-its-feet cast improvises on the spot.

Throughout the two-act performance, pianist Erik Mortimer, costumed as a lord of the court, lets his nimble fingers do the talking in a variety of songs from spirituals to Broadway to Vaudeville and rock.

Director Dana Anderson’s production has a strong sense of how to play a panto and the Capitol Theatre audience booed and hissed at the right times.

But a pantomime is not a passive experience. It’s a two-way dialogue. The more energetically an audience responds to the goofy goings-on, the more fun it is. If you attend, be prepared to volley a few witticisms of your own.

Robin Hood runs at Capitol Theatre in Fort Edmonton Park until Dec. 31.