Robin Hood: The Panto – a show that successfully delights its young audiences (Yellow Jumper Productions at Theatre at the Mill until Saturday 3 January)

The diminutive Sheriff of Nothingman (Aaron Ferguson) is searching for the charismatic hooded one (Tiarnán McCarron) who is hiding in the forest. The extent is his ‘merry men’ has been somewhat exaggerated – Dame Little Joan (Lennin Nelson-McClure) is one of his few mates – but fear not as Maid Martini (Laura Francisca Shaw) is keen to break away from the coercive control of the Sheriff and wants to join Robin Hood’s posse. Will it all end in tears … or in prison? Will anyone slide into Dame Joan’s DMs? Can Robin outsmart the fearsome Sherriff and his faceless henchmen.

Right from the start of Robin Hood: The Panto there’s constant audience participation, booing the nasty Sheriff, feeding Robin’s ego, doing the actions when Maid Martini is mentioned. The set – boxes of wrapped Christmas presents (shared with the venue’s adult offering Belfast Actually 2) – makes a great multi-level playground for chasing characters. There are fart jokes, a bit of tickling, a mention of Ozempic, some CPR, a very creepy Trump (“quiet piggy”), and inflatable baubles thrown into the audience. And that’s before children burst into song when Raining Tacos returns for a second year. Willing audience members are brought up on stage and gamely join in the action. The actors move into the auditorium in the second act. It’s organised chaos and great, great fun.

To be honest I was all at sixes and sevens and feeling my age trying to place some of the cultural references. (Rizzler, not Rizla the rolling paper, aha!) But writer, director and producer Sarah Lyle is clearly down with the kids as the young audience members around me were totally in the zone and following every song, meme and mention. Doechii’s Anxiety is apt during incarceration though it’s Jailhouse Rock that has all the adults humming along to McCarron’s excellent Elvis impersonation.

While parts of the boo-tastic opening scene felt a bit forced, Ferguson is soon comfortable as the villain and never disappoints during his songs, his rap or his big Riverdance moment. Shaw’s singing voice soars throughout and her Maid Martini oozes warm confidence and inner steel, not to mention a lorra, lorra laughs in a blind dating scene. McClure’s falsetto helps create a big sound for the snowy pre-interval Underneath the Tree.

An ensemble is populated by a volunteer community cast who join in with dance routines and appear as Merry Men and the Sheriff’s sinister faceless underlings.

McClure impressed with his silk work in Cinderella last Christmas, but casting him as the dame this year is a stroke of genius. Even without the sound effects, he makes good use of Dame Joan’s curvy assets, though dangling upside-down from a rope above the stage almost causes a wardrobe malfunction. He has a really comfortable rapport with the audience that always gets the last laugh without anyone being humiliated. This shouldn’t be the last time McClure works as a dame.

As the curtain came down for the last time, one youngster sitting behind me proclaimed “That. Was. Amaaaaaazing.” And that’s the voice of an expert you should be listening too. Parents also commented that the ticket prices were substantially less expensive than city centre productions and the drinks and snacks were a lot cheaper.

Theatre at the Mill has a long history of quality festive entertainment and Yellow Jumper’s Robin Hood is no exception. The show runs until Saturday 3 January.

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