Sid Vale Community Productions are a popular fixture of the Sidmouth Folk Festival, and this year is no exception as they once again bring one of their joyful theatre events to the town.

On Saturday, August 3, they could be found at Port Royal performing a spirited interpretation of Robin Hood, the first part in the morning and the concluding chapter in the afternoon.

Against the ambient soundscape of Morris bells on the Esplanade, the audience was encouraged to join in with cheering, booing and singing the chorus of the traditional song 'Robin Hood, Robin Hood'.

The performance merrily played fast and loose with historical accuracy as the familiar characters from the legend told their tale with broad brush panto-esque comedy and bags of audience participation.

The lively script had been written by Barry Morton, who also performed and made all the scenery and costumes. Christine Hardy, who played the narrator of the proceedings, without the aid of a mic, bellowed out key plot points and character introductions while wielding a lute.

The traditional tale of good versus evil starts on May Day at the Nottingham County Fayre, complete with a maypole dance, fighting with longstaffs and batons, and much hullabaloo from the ensemble.

The show is a hugely entertaining ragbag of skits and sketches, the staple of music hall and panto, and the crowd loved it.

Barry Morton, playing a dragon breathing actual fire, was slain by St George, played by Marc Coulson, a critical character from the Mummer tradition, to raucous approval from the crowd. Riotous vignette followed vignette, all great fun for the families with children, and included cabbages thrown at a villain in the stocks, an archery contest for the prize of a silver arrow, felonious feasting and gruesome executions.

A highlight of the show was the enchanting performance of youngest participant, seven-year-old Eris, whose mother Liza McLean was also in the show. Eris played Little Joan and was perfect in every way.

Liza said: “This is our first time performing at the Folk Festival and we are recent recruits to the Sid Vale Community Productions.”

In part two we caught up with Robin Hood in shackles in a dungeon and plans afoot for his rescue. A hilarious unplanned modern glitch supported the comedy when a disembodied voice emerged from the Narrator’s Ipad announcing difficulty in connecting to the internet, while the visible scene changes and handing out confectionary to children in the audience all added to old-fashioned enjoyment of the show.

By the end, all the baddies had of course been rounded up, but in a more measured 21st-century way, rather than execution, they were sentenced to planting trees in Sherwood Forest.

Full details of the Sidmouth Folk Festival 2024 can be found https://sidmouthfolkfestival.co.uk/full-programme2024/ Details of Sid Vale Community Productions can be found https://sidvalecommunityproductions.jimdofree.comv