Hoods up for the Prince of Leaves

It may not be pantomime season just yet — but there’s an all-out farce at the Theatre Royal tomorrow which could give the seasonal shows a run for their money.

The Ha Ha! team — responsible for the intriguingly charactered Ha Ha Holmes!, Ha Ha Hitler! and Ha Ha Hamlet! — are back with another wholly humorous haitch in Ha Ha Hood! And the Prince of Leaves.

It’s Robin Hood, but not as you know him, as this irreverent show drops in 10 years after Robin and Maid Marian’s rather messy divorce.

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Unfortunately for them, the citizens of Nottingham are in danger once again — forcing the duo back together alongside sidekicks Little John and Friar Tuck to save the day.

The show stars Su Pollard (Su’s menopausal matron Marian — perhaps a fitting role for the Nottingham-born comedienne — plays alongside an older, but perhaps not wiser, Robin Hood, with writer and founder of the Ha Ha! series Ben Langley stepping into the role himself.

The former Covent Garden street performer — who has been touring his comedy shows since 2007 — commented: “For me, what I saw in Ha Ha! was a British version of The Reduced Shakespeare Company.

Rather than taking the mickey out of us, it was embracing us, was very pro-British and was a tribute to all of the great comedy artistes and routines that have made Britain funny over the last 50 to 100 years.”

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It’s a twisted take on the Robin Hood myth, promising laughs aplenty about much-loved heroes now in their golden years.

It’s not quite panto — but it might just be the nod you need to see you through ever-longer autumn evenings until that season kicks off in November.

Ha Ha Hood! And the Prince of Leaves rides into Glasgow’s Theatre Royal for one night only, as part of a nationwide tour, tomorrow (Sunday), 7.30pm.

Tickets are £20.90-26.90 —to book or to check the running times, call the box office on 0844 871 7647 or visit www.atgtickets.com/glasgow.