"The Three Musketeers" by John Nicholson and Le Navet Bete.

Nottingham Lace Market Theatre.

 

One of my favourite novels when I was a young boy - many years ago - was Alexandre Dumas' "The Three Musketeers". I read that book over and over again and, in my head, marvelled at the bravado of D'Artagnan, Athos, Aramis, and Porthos. I watched the films over the years as they all came to life outside the confines of my head and before my very eyes on both the big cinema screen and on TV. And now I get to see these characters just feet away from me on the stage; but what a very different quartet they are when compared to the words in a book or on TV.

The story starts by introducing us to the actors who, in turn, give us their potted history of when they were children, through their school days, and the formation of their drama group and this is the latest play that the group are touring. This story is a play within a play told through the eyes of children, so expect some rather silly behaviour from the stage.

What you can also expect is something like a very tasty cake where the ingredients consist of dollops of The Goon Show humour, Monty Python, Blackadder, Horrible Histories all the way through to The Play that Goes Wrong, all mixed in to create one of the silliest things that I have seen on the Lace Market Theatre stage. And I LOVED it!!

I am a big fan of silly, simple humour and this production is absolutely packed with it, and all delivered in breakneck speed with oodles of costume changes, false facial hair - some even in the right place - space hoppers, tricycles, toy ducks, make believe swords, Dexys Midnight Runners and Martine McCutcheon... and so much more! And the best thing is that even if things did go slightly awry, who's to notice?

Ok, so this is where I tell you what the tale in this show is all about.....

Armed with his questionable steed, hot-headed D’Artagnan leaves home and travels to Paris full of childish excitement and misplaced bravado to become a Musketeer. But with the scheming Cardinal Richelieu and femme fatale Milady de Winter in the mix, will things go to plan? Well, if it was going to go to plan, the show would end after about fifteen minutes, so I don't think I'm giving away any spoilers to say that the answer to this question is a resounding "NO".

After discovering that the musketeers have been disbanded, he makes it his mission to get them reinstated and become the fourth Musketeer. But will his feud with Milady thwart him? And who the heck is she anyway? Who has the bluest eyes that resemble a lake? Why is this fact so integral to the plot?

With four actors and over 30 characters this will be their most hilariously chaotic adventure yet.

Ian Currie is D'Artagnan, as well as several other characters.

Tom Pluse plays Athos, as well as several other characters.

Tilda Stickley plays Porthos, plus several other roles.

Charlotte Carter is Aramis, and like the other members of the cast, plays several of other roles in the play.

Emma Carlton is the Stage Manager. Emma doesn't play several other characters, but provides the additional bells and whistles, plus the odd horn - literally! From start to finish Emma keeps to her over stressed Stage Manager character as she opens the show by telling everyone to check that the phones are off because they did not want a similar incident to what happened at the last venue they performed at. And I'll leave it at that!

I'm not going to individually heap praise on the above because this really is an ensemble comedy masterclass. Their timing is spot on as they also operate the set to bring the story into the next scene with revolving pieces and drop downs to think about as well as the various entrance and exit points, and the many various props the thirty odd characters use.

They also deliver some very special accents including Dutch, Irish, German and French among them. This area of comedy expertise reminded me, and I will say this only once, of the way accents are used in "Allo Allo".

If you saw "The Hound Of the Baskervilles" at The Lace Market Theatre years ago, it's very similar to how that play worked; fast, funny and fabulous. Oddly enough that production was also directed by Mr Matthew Huntbach!

"The Three Musketeers" is directed by Matthew Huntbach with Ali Lit as Producer, and if they had half as much fun working on this show as we had watching this show tonight, then we enjoyed it twice as much as they have enjoyed the experience of bringing this production to the stage. And like the cast, they must also be exhausted.

Lighting Design and operation is by David Billen, and there are some very nice lighting touches in this show. The show is a colourful one, made all the more colourful with these effects and designs. The Lighting Assistants are Allan Green, Matt Allcock and Carl Inglis.

Sound Design and operation is by Darren Coxon, whose timing with the various sound cues and sound bytes were timed to perfection.

Seeing how rapid this show is also made me appreciate even more the job of the Stage Manager - the real one that is. There are scenes when an actor will exit and then come back on looking different with a different prop within seconds, so a Stage Manager like Linda Hoyland and her Assistant Stage Managers, Fayde Judd, Glyn Allen and Lesley Brown, who also managed the props with Ali Lit and Eve Baxter is absolutely vital to the fluidity of this play.

The costumes are wonderful, as only to be expected in the hands of the Wardrobe Wizard, Max Bromley, with help from Nottingham Playhouse and Le Navet.

All for fun and fun, most definitely for all who get the chance to see this rib tickler of a comedy that will leave your cheeks aching.

"The Three Musketeers" will be swashbuckling all the way through the week until Saturday 31 May.

Photographs by Grace Eden Photography.