THEATRE REVIEW

JANUARY 2025 | Volume 247

 

Daryl Cloran will forever hold a place in the annals of Vancouver theatre for his brilliant Shakespeare-meets-The Beatles version ofAs You Like It at Bard on the Beach. Artistic Director of Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre, Cloran has now put his stamp on Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers in a co-production with the Arts Club.

Published in the 1840s and set in 17th century France, Dumas’ novel about intrigue in the French and English courts, swashbuckling swordsmen, and the ladies they loved, lost, and killed has been adapted for the stage by Catherine Bush as a comic melodrama. Stylishly directed by Cloran, with some good acting, handsome design, and lots of swordfights, his Three Musketeers is full of sound and fury. Its Shakespeare-meets-Dumas version might be titled Much Ado About rien.

The first star goes to Cory Sincennes for his lavish period costumes (those hats, mon dieu!), and his set of wooden scaffolding that Cloran has placed on a giant revolve so that the fights—sometimes eight characters swordfighting at once—get dynamic acceleration by swirling up and around the rotating set. Fight Director Jonathan Hawley Purvis gets the second star for choreographing those many fight scenes, finding some variety in each, and ensuring that they look sort of real while no one loses an eye.

The story focuses on young D’Artagnan (Daniel Fong), who comes to Paris to join the queen’s crack regiment of musketeers (though no muskets ever appear), especially the Fab Three: Athos (Darren Martens), Porthos (Alexander Ariate) and Aramis (Braydon Dowler-Coltman).

The plot concerns the love affair of French Queen Anne (Alexandra Lainfiesta) and English Lord Buckingham (Felix LeBlanc), which arrogant Cardinal Richelieu (Scott Bellis) attempts to foil, ostensibly on behalf of King Louis XIII (FarrenTimoteo). The musketeers, aided by D’Artagnan’s sweetie, Constance (Jade V. Robinson), take the queen’s side while Richelieu, evil Lady de Winter (Bahareh Yaraghi), her brutish one-eyed lover Rochfort (Garrett Ross) and their legions provide the opposition.

The musketeers and friends are fine but, not surprisingly, the baddies are much more watchable. Anyone who has read my reviews over the years knows what a huge Scott Bellis fan I am, and here again he delivers the goods with aplomb. Just watch how Richelieu holds his ring out to be kissed. Yaraghi’s de Winter, who even managed to survive a hanging, is one gloriously tough, nasty cookie. And Timoteo’sfoppishly vain Louis manages to steal the far too few scenes he’s in. How I would love to see him play Donald Trump.

With a cast of 16 and all the trimmings, this is big-budget popcorn theatre, the Disney Channel live.

 

 

 

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