THE HEART OF ROBIN HOOD by David Farr, directed by Gisli Orn Gararsson, with Gabriel Ebert, Izzie Steele, Euan Morton and Christian Lloyd. Presented by Mirvish at the Royal Alexandra Theatre (260 King West). Now in previews, opens Wednesday (January 14) and runs to March 1, Tuesday-Saturday 7:30 pm, matinees Wednesday, Saturday-Sunday 1:30 pm. $35-$130. 416-872-1212, mirvish.com
Sherwood Forest sure looks different these days.
Broadway-bound musical The Heart Of Robin Hood might be a romantic comedy at its core, but it isn’t afraid to get gritty.
Set to original bluegrass tunes penned and performed by Connecticut roots band Parsonsfield, this musical reimagining features a Robin (Gabriel Ebert) who starts off as a thuggish knave stealing for himself and killing anyone who gets in his way. It’s Marion (Izzie Steele), disguised and on the run from courtly pressures, who tries to teach him to fight for a greater good.
Writer David Farr’s and director Gisli Orn Gararsson’s exploration of Robin’s dark side isn’t a huge surprise given that they last collaborated on an acclaimed production of Franz Kafka’s disturbing existential nightmare Metamorphosis. This is Robin Hood with a pretty big twist, and it needed to be, since Gararsson – from Norway by way of Iceland – readily admits the canonical Robin is boring and uninspiring.
“After Metamorphosis, David contacted me and said, ‘Hey, I’ve written Robin Hood, do you want to direct a Robin Hood?’ And I was like, ‘No, man. Like, why?’ Whenever I’ve heard about a Robin Hood thing coming out, I’ve never really gotten excited,” says Gararsson.
For him, the gender politics of the old “damsel-in-distress” story was a non-starter.
“My daughter is eight, and already we have to protect her from ideas about what she’s supposed to wear and how she’s supposed to act. When I read the script and saw that this version is very different, and Marion is a strong female hero, I was convinced. Now my daughter has seen the show many times, and at home she’ll pick up a stick and say, ‘Come on, Dad, sword fight me!'”
Joining the two American leads is a familiar Toronto face: Christian Lloyd plays Marion’s servant Pierre, who tags along on her adventures in the forest, and also serves as the show’s narrator.
“Pierre is basically a dandy who’s very self-involved but loyal to Marion. She takes him way out of his safety zone, and he risks his life for his friends,” says Lloyd.
For Lloyd, a veteran of the local theatre scene, this big break is still sinking in.
“To see my picture emblazoned on the side of the Royal Alex is surreal,” he says.
“As a kid I used to come to Toronto on holidays with my family [from Pembroke], and we would always see a Mirvish show and then go to Canada’s Wonderland. I can’t really process this yet.”
As part of the production’s commitment to action – there’s archery, aerial acrobatics and lots of fight scenes – Lloyd gets to make a pretty grand entrance via the set’s giant slide.
“Every night when I’m at the top, my heart is in my throat,” he admits. “It’s a 40-foot slide at a 55-degree angle, so there’s a very specific way to go down to preserve the set, and, you know, not die. It just jets you out on stage and into the show: ‘Here I am!'”
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