East Van Panto: Robin Hood is not the best East Van Panto ever, but it’s still fun and it’s still a win.
Jivesh Parasram and Christine Quintana wrote the script, as they did last year. In their story, Robin Hood is a little critter who lives with his band of Merry Thems (other critters) in Trout Lake Park, but Prince Ken, a parody of Vancouver’s Mayor Ken Sim, is privatizing and monetizing everything, including Robin Hood’s greenspace, which, Prince Ken declares, will now be known as Lululemon Park. Robin and the Merry Thems plot to steal the key that opens the gates Ken has slapped on everything, including the park and the local library. (Robin is sweet on Marion, the male librarian.)
In another, more substantial subplot, Robin is having an identity crisis. Adopted as a brother by the racoon Little Jaan, he wants to grow up to be a big, strong racoon like Jaan, but Robin’s tiny — and he’s crushed when his true identity is revealed.
There are fantastic elements in this production, including Jason Sakaki’s work as both Prince Ken and Marion. Wearing a saucy little black flip wig and dressed in designer workout wear — the costumes are by Alaia Hamer — Sakaki’s prince floats, bright-eyed, on a cloud of narcissism, weirded out by being booed, panto-style, but still blissful in his privilege.
As hilarious as ever, Mark Chavez plays several characters, including a lonely British hedgehog named Hans, and a spitting, doomsaying goose.
Carol Chu is charmingly tremulous as a squirrel, and Steffanie Davis is swaggeringly tough and strong-voiced as the cop, Toni the Pony. (In one of the best gags of the evening, Prince Ken has a creepily good time brushing her mane.)
Playing Robin, Hayley Sullivan is a little out of sync. She’s a good actor and she delivers a solid dramatic performance, but she’s playing a tiny woodland creature, so the fit is off. More clown-like commitment to the character’s innocence might get Sullivan closer to the world of the rest of the show.
More importantly, the script would benefit from sharper focus and more relevant bite. Ken Sim isn’t privatizing Trout Lake Park. Isn’t deregulation, intense densification, and the greedy commodification of housing more to the point? Instead of gating the place, wouldn’t Prince Ken rip up Trout Lake Park and build towers?
One more criticism: Set designer Lauchlin Johnston’s muted backdrops are pretty, but they don’t deliver the stylistic exuberance that’s a panto hallmark.
Having said all that, I want to repeat that I had a good time at Robin Hood and so did the folks around me, including the kids. Veda Hille’s music, which draws on everything from Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black” to the bossa nova of “Girl From Ipanema”, is a good time. As per tradition, this East Van Panto includes child performers, who are reliably charming. Hans the Hedgehog even interviews a volunteer kid from the audience, and the consequences are surprising.
East Van Panto: Robin Hood may not be the best East Van Panto ever, but that’s okay because the history of these pantos has set the bar incredibly high and Robin Hood is still in the pocket.
EAST VAN PANTO: ROBIN HOOD By Jivesh Parasram and Christine Quintana. Music by Veda Hille. Directed by Anita Rochon. Theatre Replacement production presented by The Cultch. Running at the York Theatre until January 5. Tickets and information.
PHOTO CREDIT: Jason Sakaki as Prince Ken. (Costume by Alaia Hamer. Photo by Emily Cooper)
We brought a Vancouver newcomer this year and they got most of the in-jokes giving them a real sense of belonging to the community.
Have seen many Pantos in other cities and towns and this one is always the best all around.