In the play “The Trials of Robin Hood,” the legendary man who stole from the rich to give to the poor is either a lovesick young man, a scoundrel or a fool. The audience gets to decide just who Robin Hood is in the play being presented March 25-27 by the Kirk Players at Mundelein High School.
The play, featuring two 12-year olds as the main characters, as well as other youngsters and adults, takes the audience into the woods and old English courts to listen to stories, watch sword fights and hopefully, laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.
“The real gift of the story is it’s a farce,” said Jeff Harding, the play’s director. “It follows the tale of Robin Hood, what his mission in life is. The basic premise of the story is that the king has been captured. Robin is trying to collect enough gold to save the king. The play opens with Robin telling the story of how this happened,” Harding said. Robin, of course, makes himself out to be the hero.
Then Maid Marian steps in and says, “Au contraire. That’s absolutely not the way it happened.” Her version of the story has Robin being madly in love with Maid Marian, and all his good fortune is because of her.
The Sheriff of Nottingham meanwhile is just disgusted over the whole thing. He tells a different story. “You get the same basic story but with three remarkably different twists,” Harding said.
The actors rehearse three different endings, and the king has the audience decide who’s telling the truth at the play’s finale. The play, written by Will Averill, was selected so the actors and audience could have fun, Harding said. “We also wanted to pick a play that would highlight youth. This play has some really fun excellent roles for youth. The adults in the play are the supporting cast.”
Harding, who teaches math at Mundelein High School and directs the underclassmen plays there, said productions like “The Trials of Robin Hood” are becoming more common. “Authors are taking well-known characters and creating a new story,” he said.
“What’s genius about these shows is that it takes a premise everybody knows and then weaves it to a new tale. When you don’t have to spend time developing the characters, you can just dive right into the story head first.”
The key characters are Robin Hood, Maid Marian and Robin’s Merry Men. The playwright doesn’t specify that children should play those roles, but Kirk Players thought it would work well if adults got the roles of authority figures like the king and the youngsters got parts showing rebellious, fun-loving kids, Harding said.
“The kids we auditioned were incredibly talented and we couldn’t be happier with choices we made,” Harding said.
Matthew Zurawski, 12, of McHenry plays Robin Hood and Riley Kuhn, 12, of Mundelein, portrays Maid Marion. Matthew has appeared in other local shows, for example “A Christmas Carol” at PM&L Theatre in Antioch last year.
“Matthew brings this great sincerity to this role,” Harding said, adding he is able to play Robin Hood three different ways — as a stalwart hero, a man crazy in love and a fool.
Riley has performed in local plays as well, and has a spunk about her which is perfect for the role of Marian, said Harding. “There’s also a love triangle in the story with someone who is trying to steal Marian away from Robin Hood. It’s cute with 12-year-old kids. There’s a purity about it.”
The actors also are working on three different endings, depending on which story the audience deems is most believable.
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Though it’s been a new challenge for Harding to direct a play with 12-year-old kids as the main characters, he said his many years as a high school teacher have helped.
“There are certainly differences between preteen and teen kids, but kids are kids. You talk to kids and treat them respectfully and make it clear what your expectations are, and kids will live up to your expectations,” he said.
Harding said the play is “Disneyesque” in that it’s designed for children, but includes phrases and jokes only adults would understand.
Harding said he’s working with the characters to make them be bigger than life. “We want to the characters to be bold and strong,” he said “We make them ridiculously bold and strong. We try to make them to be ridiculously funny.”
Kirk Players’ ‘The Trials of Robin Hood’
When: 7 p.m. March 25-26; 2 p.m. March 26-27
Where: Mundelein High School, 1350 W. Hawley St.
Tickets: $5-$15
Information: 847-521-6192, kirkplayers.org
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.