OK, everyone's talking about it: the new Christopher Nolan film, The Odyssey. The film is widely known because of the marketing budget; that alone cost $125 million.
What people aren't talking about?
A youth-staged play at the High Springs Playhouse. Their performance of Robin Hood is totally run by kids, aged 10-to-17.
It’s a lot of responsibility for the first-time 16-year-old director, Clara Foltz.
“ I had to design the costume and the set and the lighting, the sound. Like, pretty much every technical aspect, and, like, really just at a typical rehurs- rehearsal, it's just, like, running the scene over and over,” Foltz said.
The play itself? It has the classic characters, like Robin Hood, Little John, Friar Tuck, the sheriff, but the director tells us it mainly focuses on the origin story of Robin Hood, played by 12-year-old Archer Newton.
“ I've always thought... I've always watched a movie and be like, 'It would be so cool if I acted in a movie and it was released, and it would be even better if it was a big hit,” Foltz said.
And why acting? Why not basketball or video games?
"Doing sports every day for a whole season and playing video games every day for a whole year can get pretty boring, so I wanted to change things up," Foltz explained.
One of the things that everyone seems to like is the fight scenes.
“ We have, like, some really cool fight sequences, and the kids really give it their all. It's a full youth production. Our fight choreographer, Ted Lewis, who helped found the Thieves Guild in Gainesville, um, he's done, like, so much fight work for, like, 40 years. And so the fights are really impressive, and the audience is always, like, cheering. It's a great time," Foltz said. "They start cheering, like, 'Get him, yeah.' And they're, they're really into it.”
The play even includes the classic case of breaking the 4th wall, where Friar Tuck interacts with – and even rewards – the audience.
"There are some points where he will, like take the money Robin Hood has stolen and redistribute it to the poor, and the poor being the audience, so he throws, like chocolate coins into the audience," she said.
But 12-year-old Robin Hood did confess one thing to us about his part in all this.
“I wanted to be a villain. I didn't even want to be a hero. And so I was like, 'Ooh, it would be really cool if I was, like, the sidekick of a villain.' I would be like, 'Heck yeah,'" he said. "So I tried to get Lord Dunstan's role. I didn't personally want to say any of his lines during audition because I'm really fine with whatever. And I got Robin Hood, which really it caught me off guard, that's for sure.”
Even so, Archer Newton is quick to add that even though the play is called Robin Hood, it’s not just about him.
"It's Maid Marian. It's Little John. It's every single good person out there that's gonna make a right, trying to right the wrong," he said.
And when it’s all said-and-done, and the curtain comes down, the director has a simple hope:
“ Just like, I hope that they just take home like a, a feeling of joy. Like I know it's a simple answer, but just having enjoyed their night out and happy that they went to go see a show. Like I hope that they, even if they went just 'cause their family or friends to support, I hope that they leave having genuinely enjoyed it and feeling happy that they went to go see the show. Like it was something that they can look back on and be, "Oh, that was something I really enjoyed. I'm glad I went," he said.
The Summer Youth Production of Robin Hood runs tonight through Sunday at High Springs Playhouse.
