Jack,
From what I've read there certainly were lots of plays and pageants about and including RH. They were certainly very popular with the nobility and royalty in Tudor times and I think this is where the connection with morris dance comes in, as well as the new characters like Friar Tuck and Maid Marian, as part of the May Day celebrations. I even think there is a RH mummers play out there somewhere. Although RH stories must have abounded among the general populace I have seen no real evidence that they had access to the later ballads or were party to the plays and pageants although some may have been involved as actors and for some of the menial tasks involved. I am not aware that there are any RH songs from these early plays and pageants although by the 18thc Robin Hood songs were being sung in the theatre. I came across one recently sung by Mr Beard. I think this gets a mention by Ebsworth in Roxburghe Ballads as well, at the end of the garland texts reproduced in those volumes.