| Robin Hood: Show details | Time: Saturdays 11.00 and 4.00, Sunday 12.00 and 5.00, weekdays 7.30
Price: £5 Children/£8 Adults
Venue: Luton Library Theatre
Box Office: 24-hour Ticket Line 0790 6075455
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This year’s panto by the local amateur theatre group The Griffin Players lived up to expectations and all the obvious hard work certainly paid off.  | | Nurse quietens the babes. |
A fine-voiced cast sang and danced their way through this long but very entertaining double bill, in which the babes are rescued from the hands of the evil Sherrif of Nottingham, thanks to the swashbuckling Robin Hood. All credit to first-time director Richard Lovelock (who also doubled up as the great jester-come-joke-teller Ding A Ling) for a polished show, which would rival any professional production. The villainous sherrif, played by Paul Ramsey, was menacingly convincing. My eldest (who boasted he would be cheering for the baddy beforehand) started booing as soon as he saw him in his bold black cape and scary sneer. I warmed to the way he snarled at the children, obviously relishing the moment. Panto dame Tim Hayden gave a treat of a performance as the babes Nurse Constance Noring (geddit?) who threw bogeys (in reality strips of green jelly) from her pockets. It became even more hilarious when they changed to red due to her nose bleed. Sarah Albert played Robin Hood, with a bit of sore throat by the sound of it, but nevertheless with great gusto and tremendous stage presence. Well-executed Her sweetheart Maid Marion, played by the beautifully-voiced Melanie Cavanagh, was drowned out deliberately at one point as she tried to sing the popular but extremely nauseating Katie Melua number Closest Thing To Crazy or rather Heaven in Marion's case. The songs were for me, one of the highlights and were up-to-the-minute and well-executed for the most part, with great accompaniment by the musicians. But also worth mentioning were the very young cast members particularly the babes as well as the delightful double-act Ant and Dec, alias Denise Bryson and Steve Peters. The Griffins are past-masters at panto and this one is not to be missed. Expect a three-hour performance and don’t forget - you can eat the bogeys! | 
