Three Musketeers

Three Musketeers, by James Barry is a lot of fun and gives a good idea of the story, with lots of one liners and comedy moments. A sort of Horrible Histories mixed up with a panto feel. The set is a simple wall, that cleverly opens up in different places as the scene changes, becoming a 'Cafe' or 'Jail' or Coats of Arms hung up on either side of the wall to represent the different castles. Lighting & sound are good. The costumes are also very good, lots of attention to detail and fun items as one Musketeer had brought a pirate costume along as thought they were doing Treasure Island.

The plot involves the Three Musketeers and the Queen of France. She wears a necklace called the 'Star of France'. Whoever wears the star on the balcony of the French Palace becomes the ruler of France. The Queen is worried that Cardinal Richelieu intends to steal the necklace to become the King, so she entrusts the Star to their safekeeping. There is a fun scene when we try to figure out which Musketeer, Athos, Porthos or Aramis has the Star. This play is actually a three-hander with the Musketeers taking on different parts quickly from one to the other, a really fun part was when Cardinal Richelieu starts a fight with Porthos who's behind the wall, as he goes behind the wall himself, the dialogue and 'fight' continues with a quick change of costumes only for Porthos to appear on the other side of the wall still fighting. Di Buck plays Aramis, Richard Barnett plays Porthos and Stevie Parker takes the role of Athos. They are all excellent and the story flows along at a quick pace and makes for a fun afternoon of entertainment of laughs. The ‘Musketeers’ also directed and produced the show themselves. It was also a nice touch to make an audience boy the 4th Musketeer D'Artagnan at the end. Well done.

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