Robin Hood and the Christmas Heist

Nick Hern Books files it as a family Christmas show with original songs, so it is both a play and a musical. Winter in Sherwood, empty cupboards, a sheriff squeezing the town. Robin and Marian scheme inside the Major Oak. The score sits on guitar, flute and violin in the reviews, sometimes called lilting and sometimes called thin. I can name two numbers the Guardian actually quoted: “Wassail” and “Much” (“Draw breath and stand your ground”). A full song list has not been published, and there is no cast album to point at.

Arifa Akbar’s Guardian review (8 December 2024) names Matthew Ganley as Robin, Emma Manton as Marian and Andrew Whitehead as the Sheriff, with the Rose Young Company in the ensemble. The rest of the creative team — set, costume, lighting — is not in the sources I used, so those credits stay empty. Akbar found the show wordy, with the youth company and the four adults out of balance, and still noted clever lines. Nick Hern quotes warmer lines from Time Out, The Stage and West End Best Friend. I am leaving that split as a split.

You can buy the script from Nick Hern in three formats. They also have a “plays to perform” licence page. I am not calling it royalty-free. The publisher’s own tags say plays for children under 12 and for young people 12–18. That is the age guidance I will print. Parents guide.