"The Three Musketeers" by Alexander Dumas, adapted by Ken Ludwig.

Blind Eye Productions.

Bonington Theatre Arnold.

Again, this is a production I managed to catch on its' final performance by Blind Eye. It's been a busy week and a reviewer can only fit in so many shows in just the span of a week. And who could predict that having your buckle swashed could be so much fun?

Cast your mind back to Saturday mornings on TV, with the likes of Zorro and The Three Musketeers on TV. You go out into your back yard and practice your garden cane swordsmanship on your dad's hedge or tree, and you are battling your enemies and smiting them down with your mighty sword. That is the feeling this production brought back for me.

Every young lad, probably of a certain age though, has done this re-enactment, and that is why this play has been so much fun to watch.

Think echoes of panto, Allo Allo and a smidge of Spamalot, and that is the atmosphere you feel throughout.

D'Artagnan has travelled to Paris to sign up as a Musketeer, but he has to take his sister, Sabine, with him. He does not get off to the best of starts, running into trouble as soon as he gets into Paris. He then crosses the other three Musketeers who all want to challenge him, and if he survives this, he can then keep his date with Constance, who he has fallen for.

To cut a long story short, he impresses Athos, Porthos and Aramis and becomes the next Musketeer and together they can start to have an adventure to save the King.

Porthos is played by James Waldron, and is the flirty, witty and flamboyant one of the trio, a fun-loving would-be lothario, who I still say bears more than a passing resemblance to Matt Le Blanc from his "Joey" days in "Cheers". James' Porthos is even more charming than his last part with Blind Eye as Mr Tumnus in "The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe"

Athos, the eldest of the Musketeers, is played by Graham Buchanan. A definite leader of the Musketeers and the father figure of the group. Played with real conviction, especially in the fencing scenes, which you can guarantee he revelled in. This is Graham's first foray with Blind Eye.

Aramis is played by Phillip Mordred. Aramis is chased, romantically by Adele, but throughout remains chaste, well where Adele is concerned but still shown a roving eye. This is also Phillip's first play for Blind Eye, but is quite apt for his debut Blind Eye performance as I know that Phillip has handled a sword previously

Rowan Nix plays D'Artagnan, and with great energy. This is a real physical role, being tossed to the floor on several occasions throughout the play. But we also get to see D'Artagnan's witty side as we go through the play.

A wonderfully entertaining supporting cast consisting of Charlotte Cordall (Adele), Marcia Wood (Septime) but Marcia also appeared in several guises throughout, Adam Chapman (Buckingham) who looked just like Adam Lambert in full make up. Brilliantly entertaining and wonderfully camp, Trev Clarke (Treville) plays the no nonsense commanding officer of the Three Musketeers, Danica Halsey (Sabine) makes her Blind Eye debut here and shows her tomboy side in this role but also looked to be having fun trying to get into Aramis' romantic sights.

Gill Cook (Queen Anne) who brought a wonderful "Allo Allo" style French accent to the proceedings, Paul Duffy (King Louis XIII) creating an over the top King Louis XIII who had fits of child-like tantrums, again very entertaining for the audience, and again a debut for Blind Eye.

Beth Hinchcliffe (Constance), Bertie Black (Rochefort) another energised performance from Bertie, Lindsey Hemingway (Milady) and it's not often you see Lindsey play such a nasty underhand character, Rob Hurst (Cardinal Richelieu), and as with Lindsey, it's not often you see Rob play anyone this nasty, but he also has a few comical scenes, creating a more panto villain character.

The sword fighting is excellent and very exciting, and you can tell that a lot of hard work has gone into this area of stage craft to make it look as exciting as it is, as well as being safe for the actors. Jon Buckeridge, the fight director, has certainly woven some magic here with this cast.

The costumes are brilliant, but Blind Eye and especially JJ Gill who created these works of art, already have won awards for their costumes from one of their previous productions, "The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe". The costume for Buckingham though was created by Adam Chapman and was wonderfully glamorous and intricate. From the regal costume for the Queen, the luscious red outfit for Richelieu to the Musketeer outfits and the almost piratical jet-black outfit for Rochefort, these are just another wonderful layer in the onion of Blind Eye's talents.

Directed by JJ Gill and Lindsey Hemingway, this has been three years in the making. They have created a family feeling within the cast and that chemistry shows on stage. Very fast moving and the fight choreography, by Jon Buckeridge with the Fight Captain being Jonathan Nix, is delivered with great passion and intent. JJ also designed the set and the costumes.

The week has ended, culminating in a resounding success for Blind Eye and a week of very happy audiences who have enjoyed this swash-buckling, fast moving, action filled and fun piece of theatre, which will not be forgotten for many years. A production that has left the cast tired but, from what I could tell afterwards, on a massive high from the fun that they had had.

Photos by Gavin Mawditt.