The Three Musketeers, Trois: a new musical adventure! at the Barn Theatre, Cirencester, to January 4, 2025
This isn’t pantomime as we know it (‘Ah, oui, c’est’), says Katie Jarvis. It’s a Paris-based musical adventure that’s so fun, it’s funnier than most of the things you previously considered fun
Yes, yes, I know that France in the 17th century was a dodgy place to be. Yes – yawns – yes, I know Cardinal Richelieu sought to consolidate royal power and restrained the power of the nobility in order to transform France into a strong centralized state. Blah, blah. [Note to editor: Is it OK to copy Wiki like this? Does it look convincingly as if I wrote it? Please remove these questions after reading.]
But, you know, you have to take the rough with the smooth. I know Richelieu censored the press, developed and maintained a huge network of spies, forbade discussion of political matters in public places, and had those who were suspected of conspiring against him executed. [Note to editor: Is it OK to copy socratic.org? Does it look convincingly as if I wrote it? Please remove, etc, etc. See above.]
But who genuinely can’t say they haven’t executed enemies and forbade discussion of political matters in public places. I know I have!
(But, as I say, rough with the smooth: at least they didn’t have Trump, did they?)
And they did have… Trois! (The Three Musketeers, plus one. (Quatre, by my reckoning.))
And Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen! (NB just in this particular incarnation at the Barn. We’ll come to him, in a mo.)
So this is the Barn’s Christmas play. An all-singing, all-dancing (literally, actually; I don’t do clichés, thank you) production. And, despite the fact that it’s set in Paris, it’s funny! (Rather than full of people who don’t want to serve you in restaurants, pretending they don’t understand a word you say, discussing death.)
This, in brief, is the story:
Country lad D’Artagnan, determined to avenge his dad and become a musketeer, heads for Paris where his childhood friend, Conny, is now working as a seamstress. Once arrived, he not only finds out that beautiful Conny has changed quite a bit (I mean, as in she’s conspicuously not six anymore), but that she’s involved in the fight against the dastardly villain Cardinal Richelieu. (‘Il est derriere vous.’ ‘Ah, non. Il n’est pas.’)
What’s more, as he wanders the streets, whom should he bump into but Athos, Porthos and Aramis. Can they save France – and the Queen – from war?
But, for the sake of Trois (Quatre, surely?), yes!
Genuinely, people, this production is witty, fast-paced, and utterly gorgeous. What’s more, I defy you to find a more talented cast on stage at one time than the seven members of Trois (Quatre) (Sept?).
If George Shuter (D’Artagnan) isn’t destined for great things, I’ll eat la plume de ma tante. In fact, you have to love them all. Sam Denia (who doesn’t love Sam) is a multi-talented panto (though it’s not panto; but it kind of is) baddie (non, il n’est pas), Richelieu. Hayley Canham is our delicious heroine. And – come on! AJ Jenks, Marc Serratosa, Georgia Leila Stoller, Ella Rose Thomas: how can we not mention every last one of them. They excelled.
Plus, of course, Alan Pollock who made Dumas’s Three Musketeers his own (adapted it); Lee Freeman and Mark Anderson’s music and lyrics; and director Bryan Hodgson.
Take a bow, all.
The audience was on its feet by the end: a triumph.
If you want a cracking Christmas, then head for Trois! (Don’t want to give away the plot, but really Quatre, surely?)
The Barn Theatre, Beeches Rd, Cirencester GL7 1BN; 01285 648255; barntheatre.org.uk
