Robin Hood can be found in woods near you

If you go down to Headington Hill Park today, you could be in for a big surprise. For this normally tranquil oasis in Oxford's city centre has been transformed into Sherwood Forest, and, for the next couple of months, will be playing host to a procession of colourful characters as Creation Theatre brings the tale of Robin Hood vividly to life.

It's not difficult to imagine the legendary hero in this setting, and writer Darren Ormandy, who played Bottom in last year's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, is clearly delighted.

"It's a dream setting," he told me. "I wrote the play some time ago, and very much hoped that it would get performed. Audiences will probably see the influence of A Midsummer Night's Dream in it, particularly the play within a play. It owes an awful lot to my experience with Creation.

"I'm very excited about it going on. The cast are absolutely terrific, so it's going to be a brilliant show."

Perhaps better known to Oxford audiences as one of Creation's regular actors, Darren started writing about three years ago, and his latest play, Hamburg, is due to open at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. But Robin Hood, he admits, is "the biggest show I've done". So what were the challenges and responsibilities in bringing this much-loved character to life?

"Taking such an icon as Robin Hood it has such tremendous characters in the early stories, he's very much a hero of the lower class, a poor man's champion. And it's the poor men that have kept him alive.

"The Robin Hood tradition comes very much from the grassroots end of society. Mythic stories survive in our culture because they reflect the concerns of society.

"This is a story that people know even if they haven't read the book. The characters are so much part of our national consciousness. To take those characters and try and do something new and interesting with them is a tremendous challenge."

But Darren will not be appearing in his own play.

"There's not a single character I'd want to play," he laughed. "You give the actors as much as you can, and then it becomes an amazing collaborative process with the director and designers. I think it's very much better for me not being in it."

It was through Darren that Creation secured the services of musician Jon Boden, one half of the folk duo Spiers and Boden, who have twice won the Best Duo award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Boden has composed all the music for Robin Hood, and was clearly well suited to the task, having completed a degree in Medieval Studies and a Masters in Composition for Theatre. So how did he approach this piece?

"I've tried hard to not detract from the sense of place and period, but at the same time give a sense of timelessness," he explained. "I wanted to sum up the themes of the play and give a lasting impression.

"It's a part-recorded, part-live score, which is a bit tricky. The music is mainly folk lots of fiddles and some recorders. It's not a terribly experimental score, being pretty much based in traditional English music. But I haven't used any traditional tunes it's all composed."

Like Darren, Jon is thrilled with the setting. "It's great. I love outdoor theatre it's the best set design you could hope for. Particularly with Robin Hood having such a beautiful setting."

Jon admits his background is "as a performer, not so much as a composer". He has been performing with John Spiers since the late 1990s and the pair have released a number of albums, including the highly-acclaimed Tunes followed by Songs last year. They have a hectic tour schedule this year, taking them literally the length and breadth of the country (and including a couple of dates in Witney in November).

He and John Spiers also perform with the 11-piece folk band Bellowhead, which has also won awards and frequently headlines at folk festivals throughout the country. Earlier this year, Jon released his debut solo album, Painted Lady.

Hardly surprisingly, then, he admits to being "a bit" nervous about his efforts for Robin Hood.

"The nerves you get as a composer are quite different to the kind of nerves you get as a performer," he told me. "But I'm really more excited than nervous. And it's great to work with a team of people for a change, because I'm used to working as a duo."

Robin Hood is directed by Adam Meggido and runs until September 8. Tickets are available from the Creation box office on 01865 766266. See review Page 5.

Creation will also be presenting a series of concerts at Oxford Castle over the next couple of weeks, starting this Sunday with the Anglo-Argentinian guitar duo D'Agostino and Oxley, who will play a range of music from Miles Davis to flamenco (see Page 7). Concerts of Afropean-style a capella and salsa dancing and music follow in August.

For further information about Creation Theatre presentations, visit www.creationtheatre.co.uk