Cirrus@Austlit

A burlesque pantomime set in 'merry' England, but also containing a corroboree and numerous topical hits (including several political attacks on the Victorian ministry), Harlequin Robin Hood is described in the Argus as one of those absurdities which are not to be judged of by any rules of dramatic art. The critic writes further:

Dramatis Personae who are always involving themselves in ridiculous complications; giving utterance to jokes and perpetuating puns good and bad; hits at the men and manners of the day; virtuous people and villains, fairies and fools, songs and dances, transformations and scenic effects; make up a complete jumble of incongruities, which the critic ought by every canon of his craft to condemn, but at which people who go in for amusement will laugh in spite of him. If you attempt to describe the plot it will appear very silly. If you put the puns into print, nothing could be demonstrably more absurd. Yet the audience - children both young and old - were amused and merry (27 December 1858, p.5).

In addition to the original incidental music by Frederick Coppin, the production also burlesqued a number of well-known operatic songs, including some from ll Trovatore.