Weekly Robin Extra: World Arena Tour

Having brought Bruce Wayne back from the dead time, DC Comics had to come up with a new way to exploit explore the company’s currently most popular character. So the company came up with…Batman on Ice! Except with no ice!

Batman Live is what the biz calls an “arena show,” built around athletic stunts and special effects. I didn’t pay much attention to this news until I learned that it’s not actually Batman’s story. It’s Robin’s.

The Newcastle Evening Chronicle interviewed DC’s Chief Creative Officer, Geoff Johns, and he explained:

“Batman’s origin comes out of the death of his parents. That is horrifying but compelling and even though it is 70 years old, it resonates in a very modern way.

“We want to bring out a whole other level to Batman by looking at Robin’s journey from a circus performer to an orphan after his parents are killed, to a superhero.

“Batman lost his parents, but he can cope with his pain and owns it.

“Then he sees this boy and it reopens all those wounds.

“Robin’s journey very much brings up Bruce Wayne’s journey.

“He’s a little bit harder – he can take it and own it, all this pain, and then there’s this other kid all this happens to.

“It opens up all these wounds and makes him even more angry.

“He’s doing a lot of projection on Robin for what he went through. He doesn’t really understand this, how to relate to this boy.

“I think very much that Robin brings out a whole new level to Batman.

“I actually think it is more about Bruce Wayne and Batman than almost any story.”

The show is scheduled to open in Manchester on 20 July 2011, and move on to cavernous spaces in Newcastle, Glasgow, Sheffield, Birmingham, London, Liverpool, Nottingham, Dublin, and Belfast. In 2012, if all goes well, a version will come to North America. Tickets for the UK-Ireland tour go on sale tomorrow.