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Synopsis .....................................................................................................................................................State Learning Standards ...................................................................................................................Writing the Play ......................................................................................................................................A Chat with Geof Alm, Fight Director ............................................................................................About the Set ...........................................................................................................................................About the Costumes ..............................................................................................................................The Legend of Robin Hood ................................................................................................................The Men with Power ............................................................................................................................Is Robin Hood a Hero? .........................................................................................................................Balancing the Scales – Inequality in Medieval England and Modern America ...........Words & Phrases That Might Be New to You .............................................................................Jump Start – Give This a Try ..............................................................................................................Drama in Action – Learn by Doing .................................................................................................Activity Pages ..........................................................................................................................................Booklist ......................................................................................................................................................Share Your Thoughts ............................................................................................................................

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Presents

Table of Contents

SYNOPSIS

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Continued on the next page...

Be warned: This is a complete synopsis of the play, so it is full of spoilers.

A group of homeless people enter the theater, begging for food. Prince John’s men have stolen their harvest. The prince refuses to let the poor people hunt deer for food in the royal forests. King Richard would not be so cruel, but he is away at war. The hungry people talk about a fellow called Robin Hood who robs from the rich and gives to the poor, though most of them believe that he is only a legend. The beggars then begin acting out the story.

Much, a miller, tries to shoot a deer to feed his starving family and is caught by the Sheriff and his soldiers. The Sheriff offers to let Much go if he tells him where to find Robin Hood. Much cannot say, and the Sheriff orders his house to be burnt. Much tries to attack the Sheriff and the soldiers kill him, as Much’s son watches helplessly. Robin Hood and his men appear from the forest and force the Sheriff to hand over the

money he has taken from the people. The Sheriff leaves, promising to hunt Robin down in Prince John’s name.

Robin then introduces Much’s son, named Much after his father, to his band of Merry Men which includes Nat the weaver, Will Scarlett and Alan-

a-Dale. Much accompanies Will into Nottingham to give the money back to the poor. The Sheriff captures Will and sentences him to hang, while Much escapes to tell Robin Hood.

Robin boldly enters Nottingham disguised as a woman. When the hangman can’t be found, he pretends to have a grudge against Will and offers to take the hangman’s place. Once on the scaffold, Robin throws off his disguise and hands a sword to Will. Using both weapons and wit, Robin and Will escape and elude the Sheriff’s pursuit.

Prince John is surprised and outraged that the Sheriff has allowed Robin to escape and, what’s worse, steal his money. The Sheriff proposes a plan, which Prince John accepts—use Maid Marian to find Robin’s hideout. Marian agrees to help only to save her father from the Sheriff ’s threats.

Travelling into the forest, she pretends to have been attacked by soldiers and asks for refuge with Robin’s band. Robin, beginning to fall in love, agrees, although Will insists she be blindfolded. As they walk to the hideout, Marian drops a trail of white pebbles for the Sheriff to follow. Will, however, picks them up.

At the camp, Marian falls in love with Robin, confesses to the plot and asks for forgiveness. Will proposes that they play along with the scheme in order to fool the Sheriff and rescue Marian’s father. Robin escorts Marian back to the road and gives her a horn to blow if she is ever in danger.

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Marian tells the Sheriff and Prince John she doesn’t know the way to Robin’s camp because Will picked up the pebbles. The Sheriff suspects she is helping Robin and refuses to free her father. He takes her horn and decides to marry her to punish both her and Robin.

Back in the forest, John Little blocks Robin from crossing a bridge over a stream. They challenge each other to a fight with quarterstaffs and Robin ends up in the stream. Learning that John Little is searching for the Merry Men, Robin and his fellows accept him into their band with the new name of Little John.

Meanwhile, the Sheriff has compelled the round and jolly Friar Tuck into officiating at his marriage to Marian. Marian resists, grabbing the Sheriff ’s bow and shooting her way out, with Friar Tuck lending aid.

Undaunted, the Sheriff tries yet another plan. Ripping his clothes so that he appears to be a victim of his own men, he meets Little John and asks to join with Robin. However, he is too boastful and thick-witted to keep up his disguise and he is brought blindfolded to Robin’s hideout. The Sheriff confesses all he has done regarding Maid Marian and is allowed to return to Nottingham, leaving behind his horse and all his money.

Robin and his men learn that Prince John is holding a tournament, which will include an archery competition. The winning archer will receive a silver arrow. Although the Merry Men suspect it is another treacherous plot to capture him, Robin says he will enter disguised as an old man. On the way to the tournament, Robin meets Marian, also in disguise, and they challenge each other to a fight.

After being bested by an opponent he thought was a young boy, Robin recognizes Marian, and together they proceed to the tournament.

Prince John and the Sheriff open the contest and await Robin Hood, little knowing he is already there. All are amazed at the mysterious old man who surpasses all others. Only one other archer awaits. It is Marian, in disguise, and her arrow pierces the center of the

target. The old man, following her, splits her arrow in two. Finally realizing that the old man archer is Robin Hood, the Sheriff exposes him. Robin reveals that he is in reality a nobleman—the First Earl of Huntingdon—or he was until Prince John stole his castle, his land and his title. The Sheriff attacks Robin and they engage in a furious sword fight that ends in the Sheriff’s death. Prince John flees as King Richard triumphantly returns from abroad. He pardons Robin of all charges, restores his noble title and attends the wedding of Marian and Robin in Sherwood Forest.

However, Richard soon dies fighting another war overseas and John becomes king. Once more, Robin is declared an outlaw and is lured into a trap. He escapes from a tower prison, but mortally injures himself. Luring King John’s pursuers away from Marian and his Merry Men, Robin disappears into the forest. No one sees him again. The homeless people from the beginning of the play reappear. They argue about whether the story is truth or legend, and whether Robin Hood died or survived to continue protecting the poor.

Robin Hood touches on many themes and ideas. Here are a few we believe would make good Discussion Topics: Bravery, Equality, Heroism and Medieval Times.

We believe that seeing the show and using our Active Audience Guide can help you meet the following State Standards and address these 21st-Century Skills:

• Growth Mindset (belief that your intelligence and ability can increase with effort)• Perseverance • Creative Thinking• Critical Thinking • Communication• Collaboration

Washington State K-12 Learning Standards

Theatre 1. The student understands and applies arts knowledge and skills.

1.1 Understands arts concepts and vocabulary.1.2 Develops theatre skills and techniques.1.4 Understands and applies audience conventions in a variety of settings and performances of theatre.

3. Theatre: The student communicates through the arts (dance, music, theatre, and visual arts). 3.1 Uses theatre to express feelings and present ideas. 3.2 Uses theatre to communicate for a specific purpose.

4. The student makes connections with and across the arts to other disciplines, life, cultures, and work.4.4 Understands that the arts shape and reflect culture and history.4.5 Demonstrates the knowledge of arts careers and the knowledge of arts skills in the world of work.

Reading: Literature

Common Core State Standards in English Language ArtsExact standards depend upon grade level, selected text(s), and instructional shifts to meet the standard.CCSS.ELA - RL.1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text. CCSS.ELA - RL.2 Retell familiar stories, including key details. CCSS.ELA - RL.3 Identify characters, settings and major events in the story. CCSS.ELA - RL.5 Describe the overall structure of a story, including how the beginning introduces the

story and the ending concludes the action. CCSS.ELA - RL.6 Name the author and illustrator of a story and define the roles of each. CCSS.ELA - RL.9 Compare and contrast the adventures of characters in a story.

Reading: Informational Text

CCSS.ELA - RI.1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text. CCSS.ELA - RI.2 Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text. CCSS.ELA - RI.3 Describe the connection between historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or

steps in the technical producers in the text. \

Writing CCSS.ELA - W.8 Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

Speaking & Listening

CCSS.ELA - SL.2 Ask and answer questions about key details.CCSS.ELA - SL.4 Tell a story or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant,

descriptive details, speaking audibly in coherent sentences. CCSS.ELA - SL.6 Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings and ideas clearly.

WASHINGTON STATE LEARNING STANDARDS

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WHAT IS ARTS INTEGRATION?A definition and checklist from The Kennedy Center’s Changing Education Through the Arts program.

Arts integration is an approach to teaching in which students construct and demonstrate understanding through an art form. Students engage in a creative process which connects an art form and another subject area and meets evolving objectives in both.

Some educators confuse any effort to include the arts in their classroom with arts integration. While all types of arts-based instruction are encouraged, it is helpful for educators to know when they are engaged in arts integration. To achieve this awareness, an Arts Integration Checklist is provided. Educators answering “yes” to the items in the Checklist can be assured that their approach to teaching is indeed integrated.

Approach to Teaching• Are learning principles of Constructivism (actively built, experiential, evolving,

collaborative, problem-solving, and reflective) evident in my lesson?Understanding

• Are the students engaged in constructing and demonstrating understanding as opposed to just memorizing and reciting knowledge?

Art Form• Are the students constructing and demonstrating their understandings through an art form?

Creative Process• Are the students engaged in a process of creating something original as opposed to

copying or parroting?• Will the students revise their products?

Connects• Does the art form connect to another part of the curriculum or a concern/need?• Is the connection mutually reinforcing?

Evolving Objectives• Are there objectives in both the art form and another part of the curriculum or a concern/need?• Have the objectives evolved since the last time the students engaged with this subject matter?

For more thoughts about this subject and a wealth of useful information(including lesson plans) go to:http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/educators.aspx

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WRITING THE PLAY

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By Greg Banks

First off I think, “Wow! Great! Someone has asked me to write a script based on the stories of Robin Hood.” Then I have to actually do it and what follows is lots of thinking and writing and sitting on my own and sometimes getting completely stuck and not having any idea what to write next and sometimes not being able to stop the words pouring onto the page. It’s very exciting.

Before I start writing

Before I put any words on paper I read three or four different versions of the stories of Robin Hood. We all know that he robbed from the rich to give to the poor, that he lived in the forest with his band of Merry Men and Maid Marian, but I started to wonder who these Merry Men actually were. I began to realise that they were people who had no homes, no money, no work, and when I looked around my local town I saw that there were people who had no home, no work and who were sleeping rough on the streets, begging for money and food. The only difference between them and the Merry Men was that they didn’t have a Robin Hood to lead them, to help them get back some of what was owed to them. So that’s how I started the play, with a small group of homeless people huddled around a fire trying to keep warm, wishing there was a Robin Hood around now. One of them starts to explain to the others who Robin was and what he used to do. I had a start to the play!

After that I had to choose the stories about Robin and his men that I liked and find a way to join them all together. Lots more reading and then the writing starts.

I never expected to be a writer. I started out as an actor in a small company of six actors making our own plays which we wrote together. We all took different jobs. At that time I mostly directed the plays as well as being in them. But I also built the scenery, designed the posters and helped write the scripts, which we all did together.

When six people are writing together you have to be very good at listening to other people’s ideas, and having ideas yourself, while at the same time being prepared to give up your ideas if you realise someone else’s are better. You have to be able to give and receive criticism without feeling upset. And most important, you have to care about every word and make sure that the words are doing the job you want them to do. These days I write on my own but I try to think as if I have those other people around me.

Writing the script

Now, although the play was going to be acted by four actors and a musician on a big stage, I had to write it, sitting at my desk, on my own, in my bedroom, imagining what it would be like to act these lines that I was writing. If you walked past my window you would probably hear me doing all the voices, even jumping around trying out the scenes in action. One of the extra difficulties was that because there were only going to be four actors, I had to work out how in some parts of the play I could get one actor to be four different people all at the same time. It’s like a big jigsaw puzzle. Mind boggling, but great fun.

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It’s important to remember that the words in a play aren’t written to be read quietly to yourself. They have to be said out loud on a stage. You can’t go back and read them again or get an actor to say that bit again. Which means that everything has to be very clear first time around. There also has to be action, something for the actors to do. So when I write a play I am always thinking about what will actually be happening on stage, what people will be doing, not just what they are saying.

It usually takes me about three or four weeks to write the first copy of the play. I write every day but not at the weekends. I like to go for a swim then come home and settle down to write. Some days it’s very hard to start. I do anything to avoid getting down to it. I’ll make a cup of tea, do the washing up, try the crossword, have another cup of tea, but once I have got going I usually write for about six or seven hours a day. I then send the first draft of the script to someone else who will suggest all sorts of improvements and changes, which is very helpful. I then rewrite the parts that need changing. It might be a word, a line or a whole scene. Sometimes I will write three or four versions of the play before it’s ready and even then I know that there are likely to be lots of changes during rehearsals.

Rehearsals

Normally at this stage the writer has to hand their hard work over to someone else who will then direct the play. However, I have been very lucky up to now, because I have been able to direct the first productions of all of the scripts I have written, which is quite unusual. It means that when I am writing I am already thinking how I might direct the play. For me it’s very important to be open minded and flexible about what I have written, especially when I am working with experienced and talented actors who know their jobs. I always encourage the actors to let me know if there are lines or scenes that don’t feel right and I watch for that myself. I am always prepared to make changes, and because I am often the writer and the director, I only have to persuade myself that the changes need to be made. I hope that because I have been an actor I understand what an actor might need to do or say to make the play work better.

The Performance

In the end though, as the director and the writer I will always have the final say on what lines are said and everything that happens on stage. It’s very exciting when the play finally opens and those words I wrote at my desk in my bedroom and worked on with the actors in the rehearsal room are being performed on stage.

The original production of Robin Hood was directed by me, but the one you are going to see was directed by Allison Narver. It can be very exciting and sometimes very surprising when I see what another director and her actors do with my words.

Greg Banks lives with his wife, who is an actress, and her two children, in the South West of England. They live in a tiny little village of twelve houses, surrounded by beautiful countryside. They have five chickens, a cat and a motorbike. He also has two daughters, who have both worked in the theater. Greg has been acting, directing and writing for theater since 1979. He has worked all over the world, from Singapore to Seattle, via New York, Moscow and the Arctic Circle.

Greg lives on the edge of the Cotswold Hills in the village of

Stroud, county of Gloucestershire, in the United Kingdom.


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A CHAT WITH GEOFFREY ALM, FIGHT DIRECTORPlease tell us a little bit about your working process.

It is my job to safely and effectively stage any violence that occurs in the production. Whether it’s a simple shove or a full-blown battle, the requirements are the same—it must be safe and repeatable. My process centers around the director’s vision for the fight, the story we are trying to tell with the action and how it fits in with the style of the whole play. I find out the time period of the play, the weapons involved (if needed), and then I begin to visualize the action.

When I get into rehearsal, I begin to shape the choreography based on the story of the fight. What does the script tell us needs to happen? What does the director need to have happen? Then I start teaching the moves, slowly. Every minute of stage fighting action takes about 15 to 20 hours of rehearsal work. A minute of fighting is a long time. I also love to work with the actors and get their feedback to help shape the fight.

What is a particularly interesting or unusual challenge on this project and how are you setting out to solve it?

When we first staged this play in the Eve Alvord Theatre our open space was very limited. We had to take this into account while staging a fight with a quarterstaff (a long, heavy wooden stick) without much room overhead (didn’t want to hit the lights!), as well as a big final battle between Robin and the Sheriff that needed to feel epic, and another battle fought all over the palace. In remounting this show on the bigger stage of the Charlotte Martin Theatre, even though it’s the same set design as before, we have more fighting space to fill and more possibilities.

I very much enjoyed the style of swashbuckling swordplay that we used, which was based on the great adventure fight films of the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s. The big sets in these films lent themselves to this exciting form and I think we can use the new space in the same way. My plan is to use the previous choreography as a template and build on that. It was fun and challenging for the actors, and I look forward to exploring this play again.

What in your childhood got you to where you are today?

As a kid, I did a lot of acting out action. We had 80 acres of woods behind our house in Shoreline, so we were always playing army, making wooden swords, playing hide and seek. Very active. I

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have a picture of my brother and me standing in front of the Christmas tree, wearing our Zorro costumes, with our plastic swords that had a piece of chalk on the end, so we could put our “Z” marks everywhere! Mom loved that!

I started acting in high school as a junior, and continued during my college years. After graduating, I worked for a year to save money so I could attend a one-year acting school in London. It was there that I was introduced to formal stage fighting training. When I came home, people began to ask me to choreograph fights. I only had about six months of training, which was definitely not enough. I met David Boushey, who introduced me to The Society of American Fight Directors, a national organization dedicated to stage fighting training. There I received my basic actor-combatant status, was a member of the first Certified Teacher’s class, and have been teaching and choreographing ever since. I still train as an actor, and in the last couple of years have been in two shows where I got to fight—Peter Pan at SCT and The Three Musketeers at Seattle Rep.

I feel I am doing the job I was made for, all the cool action, using swords, and NOBODY gets hurt! It is fun, challenging and never boring.

Geoffrey Alm has worked with SCT since 1988. He teaches stage fighting in the MFA program at the UW, Cornish, Freehold Theatre Lab and UPS, as well as SCT’s Young Actor Institute. He is a fight master with the Society of American Fight Directors.

Actors Hans Altwies and Basil Harris in action with Geof’s Robin Hood choreography

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ABOUT THE SETFrom Jennifer Lupton

In designing the set for Robin Hood, we tried to create a timeless forest playground that can quickly transform itself with imagination and lighting into a town square, a tower in the castle or a glen in Sherwood Forest. We wanted the world to be magical and tough at the same time, and to push the action into the audience so they could become characters and help the actors tell the story.

The first time we did Robin Hood it was in the Eve Alvord Theatre where the stage is very shallow. We wanted the forest to seem to go on forever, so I designed a backdrop and surrounding panels to accomplish that goal. Another challenge in Robin Hood is the constant physical movement. I needed to give the director as many options as possible: paths through the trees, moving forest panels, platforms, stairs, ladders, ropes and even the space where the audience sits.

A model of the set as designed for the original production in the Eve Alvord Theatre. It will be slightly adjusted to fit the Charlotte Martin Theatre stage.

Overhead view of the set model


Now we are moving the show to the Charlotte Martin Theatre. It is surprising how easily the set fits, even though the stage is narrower than the Eve Alvord stage. My biggest challenge is the fire curtain in the Charlotte Martin. The fire curtain is hanging up out of sight just behind

the proscenium (the frame around the stage) and has to be able to drop straight down all the way to the floor in case there is a fire. Where to put the set? I chose to move it way downstage (towards the audience) making sure all the tree limbs and beams, which are coming out in all directions, clear the path of the fire curtain. Since the audience is so involved in this show and is part of the action, it should be exciting for the set to be right “in their laps.”

It’s been fun creating an edgy, cool, mythological world for us to explore in this great tale of heroes and villains.

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The fire curtain being raised on the Charlotte Martin Theatre stage

Design for the ladder that will be used as the tower in the play

The emblem on Prince John’s banners

When the banners are in position, the scene changes to the castle. You can see

them on the set model.

From Catherine Hunt, Costume Designer

The fact that this Robin Hood script has both medieval and contemporary references really lends itself well to a mixed bag of styles in the clothes. For example, for Robin’s costume I combined elements of medieval garments from the artist Albrecht Dürer as well as more contemporary clothing ideas like those of fashion designer Alexander McQueen.

Allison Narver, our director, also wanted to capture a slapstick, vaudeville feeling—especially with the beggars. Because this is very much an ensemble piece in which things happen very fast, the actors are required to become other characters quickly. This spawned the idea of a sort of contemporary basic costume with pieces added on for those changes.

I’m excited about this bold graphic approach and how it works within the demands of the play.

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ABOUT THE COSTUMES


A sketch of Robin Hood’s costume

Three Peasants in Conversation, by Albrecht Dürer, 1497

Fashion designs by Alexander McQueen,

from his runway show in the fall of 2009


14Sketch of Maid Marian’s costume

From left to right, sketches of costumes for Little John, Friar Tuck and Prince John. One actor plays all three of these characters. He wears a base costume—shirt, pants and boots—and adds different coats, vests or tunics, scarves and

hats to change characters quickly.

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THE LEGEND OF ROBIN HOODRobin Hood, as we know him today, is a nobleman who had his property taken from him, was forced to live as an outlaw in Sherwood Forest, and fights the oppression of Prince (or King) John and his evil henchman, the Sheriff of Nottingham, by robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. He finds love with a beautiful highborn lady, Maid Marian. His followers, or Merry Men, include Much the Miller’s Son, Will Scarlett and Little John—a giant of a man who is his closest companion.

Some parts of that story go back to the misty beginnings of the Robin Hood legend. But like Robin himself—the master of disguise who can transform himself at will—the legend changes constantly to become what the people of each generation need. Some corners of his character have been lost; in early stories he displayed religious devotion, especially to the Virgin Mary. But much more has been added; very early ballads depict Robin robbing from the rich, but giving to the poor doesn’t become his consistent policy until hundreds of years later.

Was there a real Robin Hood? There was. In fact, there were many. Variations of the name “Robin Hood” were common in medieval England, and real outlaws adopted the famous name from time to time. We will probably never know if there was an original man who inspired the legend. One candidate, put forward by the great Robin Hood scholar J.C. Holt, is Robert Hood, an outlaw mentioned nine times in the records of medieval Yorkshire, between 1226 and 1234.

The first written mention of the legend mocks the stories, calling them foolish entertainment and a distraction from responsibility. A lazy priest in William Langland’s poem Piers Plowman, written around 1370, remarks (in a loose translation):

I can’t pray the Our Father so good But I know rhymes about Robin Hood!

In the earliest ballads from the 1400s, Robin is a yeoman, not a nobleman. A yeoman held a status between that of a noble and a commoner—he was a high-level, weapon-carrying servant of a rich lord. The description of the Knight’s Yeoman in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, written in the late 1300s, brings Robin Hood to mind:

A Yeoman clad in coat and hood of green With a sheaf of peacock arrows, bright and keen

Robin was not part of the nobility until the playwright Anthony Munday wrote two Robert, Earle of Huntington plays about the outlaw in 1601. After that, more and more stories began to assume that he was a dispossessed nobleman. And although the early ballads place Robin in the reign of King Edward, since the late 1800s Robin Hood has supported A statue of Robin Hood in Nottingham, England

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King Richard the Lionheart, who ruled England in the late 1100s. Robin is driven to outlawry during the bad government of Richard’s brother John while Richard is away fighting in foreign lands.

Why and how Robin fights changed over time as well. In the early rhyming stories, Robin steals from the dishonest, both rich and poor. He helps good people, both rich and poor. In most of the earliest tales, Robin meets someone in the forest where he either fights with them or invites them to dine—after which he requires

them to pay handsomely for their dinner. Robin always fights with bow and arrows or a sword in the early rhymes; the quarterstaff, the weapon of the common man, did not enter his story until much later.

Robin’s character is not the only part of the legend that has changed and grown. Originally, merry meant “following”—Robin’s merry men referred to the men who followed Robin—but as the meaning of the word changed, Robin’s followers became more jolly and cheerful. Little John, Will Scarlett and Much the Miller’s Son are the earliest-mentioned companions of Robin Hood. Much the Miller’s Son was originally a tough, murderous man, but—probably because the “Son” in his name implied youth—his character became younger and more innocent, and became a victim of cruel anti-poaching laws. Maid Marian was originally a character in love with a shepherd named Robin in the French tale Robin and Marian, which had, at first, nothing to do with the English Robin Hood stories. She entered the legend through the Robin Hood Games. These were plays that made up an important part of May Day festivities. The first record of a Robin Hood game was in 1426. The jolly Friar Tuck appears in the oldest surviving Robin Hood May Day play.

In the 1800 and 1900s, in novels and later in movies, Robin Hood’s story became enormously popular. In the 1800s Robin became a national hero, upholding the rights of oppressed Saxons against their Norman overlords, in novels like Ivanhoe, by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1920.

Movies have also updated the Robin Hood legend, often providing him with a Middle Eastern companion, a greater thirst for social justice and an enormous variety of new stories. Greg Banks, who wrote the script for SCT’s version of the story, follows the tradition of “something old, something new.” When one of the characters sings a snatch of song …

Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen Robin Hood, Robin Hood, with his band of men

… he is using lyrics first written by Carl Sigman in 1955 for the British T.V. series, The Adventures of Robin Hood. Banks also adds original ideas, like King John bathing in his gold. But it would be a mistake to see the old parts of the legend as genuine and the newer parts as fake. One of the most important reasons Robin Hood has remained popular for hundreds and hundreds of years is that he can change to be what we need him to be—but is always free in the forest, with keen arrows and clever tricks.

An old drawing of the town of Nottingham

Errol Flynn playing Robin Hood in the Warner Brothers film The Adventures

of Robin Hood, made in 1938

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THE MEN WITH POWERKings ruled Medieval Europe. They granted lands, called fiefs, to vassals—powerful nobles such as barons and dukes. In return, these great lords swore oaths to be loyal to and fight for their king. These nobles often had their own vassals, bound by similar oaths. And those vassals often had lesser vassals as well.

Peasants worked to support everyone—they farmed fields in return for the nobles’ protection. Government was very unstable. Barons often went to war against each other, or against their king. Many had lands in more than one country, which resulted in complex and conflicting loyalties. King Richard the Lionheart, for example, was King of England and often at war with the King of France. But Richard was also Duke of Aquitaine. Aquitaine, where Richard actually lived, is in France. So Richard was also a vassal of the King of France and owed him military service and loyalty.

In order to keep these great fiefs and kingdoms in one piece, medieval kings and nobles often passed on land after their deaths according to the rules of primogeniture, in which the oldest son inherits all the land. Restless younger sons, trained to fight and rule, were left without lands and peasants. To support themselves, some went on crusades (holy wars) against Moslems, Jews and Greeks in the Middle East. There they took over old kingdoms or carved out new ones. Some became mercenaries (paid soldiers); some rebelled against their older brothers.

Richard’s younger brother, Prince (later King) John took the path of rebellion. He was known as John Lackland because, as the youngest son of King Henry II, he was not expected to inherit any land. So, while his older brother Richard was fighting in the Third Crusade, John led an unsuccessful rebellion

against him. After Richard died fighting in France in 1199, John finally did become king of England. But many of John’s barons rebelled against him in turn.

John and the rebel barons agreed to the Magna Carta peace treaty in 1215. This peace treaty defined some of the rights and responsibilities of king and nobles in England. It was one of the most important steps in the development of the modern legal system and constitution of Britain. At the time, however, neither side complied with it. John died of disease in 1216, still fighting against the rebel barons.

At that time, and still today, Richard the Lionheart is often regarded as a hero and John Lackland as a villain. That is partly true. Richard was a great military leader. However, he spoke only French, spent very little

time in England and took all the wealth he could out of England to pay

King Richard the first – Richard the Lionheart

King John, also known as John Lackland

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for his wars. John, on the other hand, introduced many important and lasting reforms to England’s government, but most historians agree that he could also be petty and cruel.

The underlying cause of the violence and suffering of the period is neither John nor Richard, but the complex web of conflicting loyalties that made up government and guaranteed warfare and betrayal throughout the history of Medieval Europe.

Sheriffs

The word sheriff comes from “shire-reeve”—shire in medieval England meant an administrative district—similar to what the word “county” means in the United States today. Reeve is an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning “leader” or “overseer.” So the shire-reeve served as the overseer for the whole shire.

A medieval English sheriff was a knight, a large landowner in the shire where he served. Medieval sheriffs were not paid, but because they were responsible for collecting royal taxes and fines, dishonest sheriffs garnered great wealth. John of Oxford, Sheriff of Nottingham during the 1330s, was famous for fraud and extortion and probably served as the model for the wicked Sheriff of Nottingham in the Robin Hood tales. Another notorious medieval sheriff, Picot, the Sheriff of Cambridgeshire, was described by a monk of the time as …

“a hungry lion, a prowling wolf, a crafty fox, a filthy swine, a dog without shame, who stuffed his belly like an insatiable beast as though the whole country were a single corpse.”

But serving as sheriff carried risks as well. King Edward I seized the land of a number of sheriffs, claiming they had defrauded him.

The duties of a medieval sheriff resembled those of a sheriff of the Old West in some ways. He was a local representative of the national government, and carried out the orders of that government. And he could raise a posse (defined in medieval England as the able-bodied men of the shire) to apprehend criminals or put down rebellions.

The sheriff presided as judge over the shire court, which tried offences against the king. Shire court juries also supplied information to the king on local customs and rights, and often chose representatives to Parliament. Sheriffs also administered any of the king’s lands that fell within the boundaries of the shire. This included the royal forest. Forest meant not just land with trees on it, but all wild lands. These belonged directly to the king and were kept wild so that kings and nobles would be able to hunt.

Because Sheriffs were not paid civil servants, kings often had difficulty getting them to put aside their local loyalties and enforce royal edicts effectively—so the English sheriff system died away with the medieval period, though a few honorary sheriffs still hold office there today.

The Sheriff of Nottingham. An illustration from

the book Bold Robin Hood and His Outlaw Band by Louis Rhead,

from 1912

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IS ROBIN HOOD A HERO?In the early days of the legend, many people regarded Robin Hood as a villain—a criminal who lived at his ease in the woods by violently robbing rich and poor alike. Today, it is more common to see him as a hero, coming to the aid of poor, downtrodden people. But what is a hero? In his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell provided a powerful answer to that question by outlining the path that he believed all heroes take. Many modern heroes, including Dorothy Gale, Frodo Baggins and Harry Potter, follow Campbell’s path, beginning with...

THE DEPARTUREThe Departure starts with The Call to Adventure: a specific event that reveals the hero’s destiny or forces the hero to begin the journey. Often the hero will

hesitate and Refuse the Call. The hero might also receive Supernatural Aid at this stage. The Departure culminates with the Crossing of the First Threshold and the Passage into the Realm of Night.

Dorothy, in the 1938 MGM movie The Wizard of Oz, provides an example of this first stage in the hero’s journey. Dorothy longs both to save her dog, Toto, from the vengeful Mrs. Gulch (whose name suggests a divide between worlds) and to find a place beyond trouble “Over the Rainbow.” When Toto manages to escape from Mrs. Gulch and find Dorothy, Dorothy receives her

Call to Adventure. She takes Toto and runs away. But when she realizes that her flight will bring trouble and pain to Aunt Em, she tries to return, or Refuse the Call. She literally and figuratively Crosses the Threshold into her house and passes into The Realm of Night when a tornado snatches up the house and carries it to Oz.

THE INITIATIONThe hero then sets out on an Initiation, or quest, that will take her from the world of the known to the unknown. This quest is both a physical movement from one place to another and a symbolic movement towards wisdom, maturity and spiritual enlightenment. During this stage of the journey, the hero may find romance. The hero travels The Road of Trials, faces temptation, finds atonement and achieves The Ultimate Boon, or goal of the journey.

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In The Lord of the Rings, as Frodo Baggins goes through his Initiation, he struggles to destroy the One Ring, crossing both physical and psychological boundaries. He overcomes many obstacles, including the temptation to keep the ring and its power for himself. Finally, with Smeagol/Gollum’s unwitting help, he destroys the One Ring, achieving the Ultimate Boon.

THE RETURNWhen the hero has achieved his or her goal and come to a deeper understanding of his or her role, the hero can return home, to be welcomed and celebrated as Master of the Two Worlds (home and beyond). Now the hero finally possesses the Freedom to Live. For example, after Harry Potter comes to understand his role and fulfills his destiny by defeating Lord Voldemort, he is free to marry, have children and live a life of his own choosing.

IS ROBIN A HERO?In what ways does the Robin Hood legend fulfill Campbell’s outline of the Hero’s Journey? Does it differ in significant ways? Do other characters, like Marian, follow Campbell’s path more closely? Are there other versions of the legend you have seen or read that bring Robin Hood closer to Campbell’s vision of a hero?

Resources:Interactive story builder for a hero’s journeyhttp://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/herosjourney

Online version of the Robin Hood legends with links to complete texthttp://bestoflegends.org/robinhood/index.html

Suggested Additional Resources• Book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell• DVD or VHS, The Power of Myth, PBS series

This article was adapted with permission of The Children’s Theatre Company of Minneapolis from their Robin Hood study guide.

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BALANCING THE SCALES


Robin Hood, as everyone knows, robs from the rich and gives to the poor. Is he right? Before we answer that question, it helps to think about what we mean by “rich” and “poor.” The answer might seem obvious—rich people have money, poor people do not. But although Prince John may have had enough money to bathe in gold, he could not buy fresh fruit in the wintertime. He could not travel faster than a horse could gallop. His only heat in winter and light in darkness came from fire. Does that make us all richer than a prince?

We do not usually compare ourselves to princes who lived almost a thousand years ago. We compare ourselves to each other, to the people of our own time and place. By what right, we want to know, do others have more or less than we do? Different countries and times answer that question with different stories.

In Prince John’s place and time, England in the 1100s, the official story was that God put different classes of men on Earth for different reasons. Peasants must work in the field, to provide food for all. They must farm the same pieces of land all their lives and after they die, their children must keep farming those same bits of earth. Nobles and kings were required to fight, and risk their lives to protect the peasants from barbarians, invaders and outlaws. So nobles and kings must have the wealth. Warhorses, armor, weapons and castles were expensive. The hard labor of 200 peasants would support only one knight.

But during the 1300s, the century in which stories of Robin Hood became popular, many English peasants came to believe that they were more oppressed by the kings and nobles than they were threatened by barbarians, invaders or outlaws. They claimed God created all men free and protested by chanting a rhyme that went something like this:

When Adam farmed and Eve span [made thread at a spinning wheel]Who was then the nobleman?

These English peasants were not content with Robin Hood fantasies. In 1381, they rose in rebellion. They formed a vast army and entered London, overwhelming the nobles and officials who tried to stop them. But a combination of trickery and force defeated them, and the king and nobles forced them back to farming the same land.

In the United States of America, the official story we tell to justify the difference between rich and poor is different. Our Declaration of Independence states that “all men are created equal ...they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” In other words, there should be no set classes. No king, no

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nobility, no peasants. We all have the freedom to choose how and where we wish to live, and the chance to try to live that way. You might be born poor but wind up rich through hard work and talent. Or be born rich and wind up poor through laziness and self-indulgence.

But today, as SCT presents the story of Robin Hood, many people have come to believe that banks, governments and large corporations make the rich richer without providing increased opportunity for most Americans. During the Occupy movement in 2011 and 2012, people camped out in cities and carried signs saying, “We are the 99%.”

Those signs referred to the fact that a small percentage of Americans controls an overwhelming share of the wealth and power of the nation. Inequality has been growing in the U.S. since the 1970s. Today, the richest 1 percent of Americans own over a third of the nation’s wealth. The poorest 80 percent of Americans—eight out of every ten people—own only about a tenth of the nation’s wealth. In many large corporations, the head of the company makes more money in one hour than most employees there will make in a month.

Is that a problem? Does it make it right to take money from those who have much and give it to those who have less? If so, how do we do that? In a democracy, it is the right and responsibility of all citizens to decide the answers to these complex questions. We can do it through learning, debate and cooperation, through voting and protesting, through speaking out and running for public office. That all might sound less appealing than taking to the forest and living as a merry outlaw. However, while a good-hearted outlaw might be able to right individual wrongs, he cannot change the system for the better. It is up to all of us, rich, poor and in-between, to help create and maintain a society that provides everyone the opportunity to pursue happiness.

Sources:Wealth Inequality in America—Perception vs Reality, CrisisForums.org – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vttbhl_kDoo

Harvard Magazine: What We Know About Wealth, A brief summary of the scholarly article on which the previous source was based – http://harvardmagazine.com/2011/11/what-we-know-about-wealth

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WORDS & PHRASES THAT MIGHT BE NEW TO YOUCaught you. Red-handed. Trying to kill the King’s deer. – in the act of doing something wrong; originally from the image of a murderer caught in the act, with blood on the hands

The money you stole from the honest people of Nottingham to feather your own nest... – take what was meant for others to make oneself richer

And as darkness descended, men appeared silently out of the forest. – came down from a higher place to a lower level

A gaggle of armed men ran towards Will. – disorganized group

I shall never betray Robin. – deliver to an enemy

Let’s march to Nottingham, take the place by storm and hang the sheriff on his own gallows. – wooden frame with an upper beam that has a noose attached, used to execute people by hanging

At the first sign of an attack, they would withdraw into the castle, hang Will Scarlett and laugh at our attempts to lay siege to them. – attack continually for a long period of time

Robin: We must use guile. Much: What? Robin: Cunning. Much: Don’t get it. Robin: We have to trick them.

guile – clever trickery cunning – cleverness in getting what one wants often by trickery or deception

He scorns you and your kind. – rejects because of a feeling of anger and disgust

Treachery! Seize that man! – behavior in which someone is not loyal to a person who trusts them, especially when the disloyal behavior helps that person’s enemies


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I have a grudge against Will Scarlett. – strong, lasting feeling of anger toward someone for a real or imagined wrong

Your highness, may I call the Maid Marian? – young unmarried woman

Don’t cry. I hate the sound of sniveling. – crying or whining with sniffling

Robin was wandering through the forest his heart full, his head giddy with love… – having a feeling of whirling or spinning about

Friar Michael Tuck at your service, ma‘am. – a man belonging to a Catholic religious community who agreed to give up worldly life, remain poor and unmarried, and travel around preaching about Christianity. There were actually no friars in England during the reigns of Kings Richard and John.

Lock you in a turret where the only light comes in through a very, very, very, very, very tiny keyhole. – small rounded tower that projects from a wall or corner of a large building such as a castle

The outlaw and traitor Robin Hood. – person who behaves in a disloyal manner

Robin struggled to free himself from his bonds. – things that bind: cords, ropes or bands

Whoa! A mile down that track lies a church. Marian, you and the others go there. They will give you sanctuary. – shelter or protection

A statue in Nottingham, England shows Friar Tuck reading to some of the Merry Men

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JUMP STARTIdeas for things to do, wonder about, talk about or write about before or after you see Robin Hood.

Why does the Sheriff hate Robin Hood?

Why does Robin risk everything to go win the silver arrow?

Is it ever right to break the law?

Why does Robin tell his Merry Men, “Never cheer the death of any man,” even though the Sheriff was his enemy?

The actors in this play tell the story of Robin Hood as a group, combining narration with action. Sometimes an actor will say just a few words before another actor picks up the story. Pick one part of the story and tell it with a group of friends, each of you doing just one sentence at a time as you all act it out.

Why is equality important to people? Does “equality” mean everybody is exactly the same? If not, what does it mean?

Are there ways Robin could have helped the people of Nottingham instead of robbing from the rich?

Are there parts of your life where you don’t think things are as fair as they should be? Do you know of any reasons why that is? What can you do about it?

Why don’t the people of Nottingham protest when the Sheriff and Prince John treat them badly?

Have a paper airplane target tournament. Make a target or just pick a specific spot everyone is aiming for. Take turns throwing. Closest airplane wins.

Tell the story of Robin Hood from the Sheriff’s point of view, making him the hero.

Why do you think the story of Robin Hood has lasted for hundreds of years?

How do Robin and His Merry Men survive in the forest all year round?

Disguises are more than just what you wear. Can you move as you think Robin Hood would move? As Maid Marian? As the Sheriff? Try walking across the room as one of the characters in the story and see if a friend can guess who you are pretending to be.

If you were one of Robin’s band, what would your name be?

Draw a map of the forest showing the secret way to Robin’s hideout.

If Robin Hood were around today, whom would he be fighting for?

What do you think happens to Robin after the end of the story?

From a deck of cards pull out an Ace for Robin, Queen for Marian, King for King Richard, Jack for Prince John, 2 for a peasant and a 10 for a soldier. Shuffle the cards. Everyone takes a card without looking at it and holds it to their forehead. Now interact with each other without using words. See if you can figure out who you are.

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DRAMA IN ACTION

*A Dramashop is an interactive drama-workshop that Seattle Children’s Theatre offers to schools and community groups through our Education Outreach Program. Dramashops explore the themes, characters, historical context and production elements of SCT Mainstage plays. Professional SCT teaching artists work with students for an hour, fleshing out themes and ideas through dynamic theatre exercises. Dramashops can occur either before or after seeing the play and can be held at SCT or at your location. Students get on their feet in these participatory workshops, stretching their imaginations while learning about the play.

For information about bringing a Dramashop to your classroom or community group, email [email protected].

This is a customized Robin Hood Dramashop* exercise for you to try.

EXERCISE: I’m Not Who You Think I AmGRADES: Kindergarten and upTIME: 10 minutesSET-UP: This exercise works equally well in desks or in open spaceSUPPLIES: None

INSTRUCTIONS:Many characters in Robin Hood use disguises to hide their true identities and trick their foes. In this exercise students will explore disguising themselves, not with costumes, but by changing their voices. Students will experiment with vocal tone, texture and volume.

Reflect on how Robin Hood, The Sheriff of Nottingham and Maid Marian disguise themselves throughout the play. Disguises can be physical like a hat or mask, but they can also be vocal. Practice saying the line, “I’m not who you think I am,” using different voices. Call on one student to demonstrate a voice disguise and then have the whole class repeat the style. Examples of changes include using a deep voice, a high voice or a raspy voice.

Once the students are comfortable using their voices in a variety of ways, choose one student to come to the front of the room to be the guesser. The guesser turns their back to the group and closes their eyes.

Next, prompt the students interested in being the speaker to raise their hand. Silently select a speaker by pointing at them. Instruct the other students to point to the speaker to demonstrate they know who was selected. Prompt the speaker to say the sentence, “I’m not who you think I am,” in a disguised voice.

Remind the students to put on their most innocent-looking faces—as if it could have been any of them. Have all the students say to the guesser, “Turn around!” The guesser uses his or her power of observation and power of listening to determine who said the line. The guesser has three tries to figure out who disguised his or her voice.

VARIATION:For a younger group you may want to simplify the phrase to something like, “Guess who I am?”

TO THE RESCUE!

Robin has written down the details of his plan to save Will, but some of the words are missing. Help Much (the Miller’s Son) and Robin’s Merry Men by completing the message below.

Word Bank: townspeople castle Sheriff woman soldiers Nottingham wrong free streets

Dear Much,

Tomorrow I will disguise myself as a

____________ and go to the town of

_____________________. I will sneak into

the _____________ where the ______________ is holding Will prisoner. I will take the place

of the executioner and ________ Will! If the

sheriff and his _______________ start to attack us, we will run through the

____________, and you can help us by

asking the ____________________ to point the

Sheriff in the ___________ direction.

See you soon! Robin Hood

Robin Hood is a do-gooder, a fighter for justice and a bringer of peace.

You can have a positive influence, just like Robin Hood.

How do your actions affect the actions of those around you?

Look at this example target.

How does action #1 help make action #2

happen? How does #2 help #3?

BE A HERO

Fill in the other targets with your

ripple effect on the world around you.

Write your action on the arrow, the

action that might follow from it in the

second ring, and then the new action

that might follow from that in the

outside ring.

BOOKLIST

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For Children & Young Adults:

Fiction

The Door in the Wall Marguerite De Angeli

The Knight at Dawn (Magic Tree House #2) Mary Pope Osborne

Matilda Bone Karen Cushman

Robin Hood Neil Philip

Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow Robert D. San Souci

Saint George and the Dragon Margaret Hodges

The Sword in the Stone T. H. White

The Adventures of Sir Lancelot the Great Gerald Morris

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village Laura Amy Schlitz

This Newbery Award winner contains nineteen monologues and two dialogues which give voice to young characters that all live in or near the same English manor in the year 1255.

Booklist prepared by Debbie HowardKing County Library System

Nonfiction

Knights and Castles: A Nonfiction Companion to The Knight At Dawn Will Osborne

You Wouldn’t Want to Be in a Medieval Dungeon!: Prisoners You’d Rather Not Meet Fiona MacDonald

For Adults Working With Children & Young Adults:

Medieval Life Andrew Langley

The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century Ian Mortimer

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

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Engaging young people with the arts is what we are all about at SCT. We hope that the Active Audience Guide has helped enhance and extend the theater experience for your family or your students beyond seeing the show.

We’d love to hear your feedback about the guide. You can email your comments to us at [email protected]

Educators, your input is very valuable to us. Please take a moment to go online and answer this brief survey: http://www.instant.ly/s/Uw6W6

Thank you for your support.

Seattle Children’s Theatre, which celebrates its 40th season in 2014-2015, performs September through June in the Charlotte Martin and Eve Alvord Theatres at Seattle Center. SCT has gained acclaim as a leading producer of professional theatre, educational programs and new scripts for young people. By the end of its 2013-2014 season, SCT had presented over 230 plays, including 110 world premieres, entertaining over 4 million children.

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