YORK Theatre Royal's summer family adventures are hard to pin down, like a colony of ants. In essence, they want you to have fun; they are free spirited, even a little wild; they are the jazz of the theatre's programme; they sort of work and they sort of don't work. They probably belong in a festival field but they're stuck indoors waiting for the rain to stop.

The Legend Of King Arthur and last summer's somewhat bonkers Sherlock Holmes were erratic, even a tad confusing, probably trying too hard to be loved. Robin Hood: The Arrow Of Destiny is all the above again, but ultimately this Arrow is nearer to a bullseye than a misfire, being as close as any Theatre Royal production has ever come to a psychedelic summer pantomime, albeit one crossed with a Hair-brained late-Sixties musical, Spike Milligan, Mel Brooks and Monty Python.

Yes, it is that far out there, with a rapping Robin and Sheriff; a bearded Little John, who is obviously female (Joanna Holden); a smooth-talking tree called the Oak King (Jo Servi) and a Jamaica-jive talking Friar Tuck (the delightful Trevor A Toussaint). Not forgetting teams of children working puppet masks by the names of Whining Winnie, Fussy Filbert, Gloomy Grimbald etc, voiced by the likes of the unmistakeable Martin Barrass and Michael Lambourne.

Toussaint and Holden pop up as American archery-contest commentators, in Statler and Waldorf Muppet style, and by the time a giant Wyrmwood creature has us heading into Alice In Wonderland terrain in Jane Linz Roberts' design, Damian Cruden and Suzann McLean's co-production has turned weirdly groovy.

Aside from his rapping, John Elkington's Sheriff of Nottingham is a safe-pair-of-hands conventional panto villain, while his lackey, Ed Thorpe's Guy of Gisbourne, echoes the put-upon Patsy in Monty Python's Spamalot musical.

Robin Hood has barely had a mention, you will note, because he's not the driving force of Richard Hurford's script, being a somewhat reluctant hero figure – "lazy", in his own words – once he makes a late entry from his woodland hang-out. Neil Reynolds, from CBBC's Secret Life Of Boys, has a natural rapport with children in his professional stage debut as rappin' Robin and they like his street modernity too.

His Robin plays second fiddle to Siobhan Athwal's all-action, soul-singing Maid Marian in Hurford and composer Rob Castell's reinvigoration of the Hood tale. It is she who grabs the spirit of the myth, although she takes on the guise of Will Scarlett to bring about change. Women's rights have a way to go in Sherwood Forest.

As in Gobbledigook Theatre's Robin Hood at Bolton Abbey last week with no Robin Hood in the cast, ultimately we are all Robin Hood in The Arrow Of Destiny. We don't need "heroes", the thinking goes, but maybe we just don't all need the same hero; after all, some of us might aspire to be a Friar Tuck or even a villainous Sheriff.

Robin Hood: The Arrow Of Destiny, York Theatre Royal, until September 2. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk