The Three Musketeers
The Hawth Amphitheatre
21/07/26
The pastel pink stage adorned with a symbolic fleur-de-lis made for a striking sight; nestled amongst the Hawth woods in which the amphitheatre is situated. The Three Musketeers is one of the four shows that Illyria are staging in their 35th touring season.
Based on the 18th century novels by Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers follows the hero D’Artagnan (Alex Layfield) who sets off with a letter of recommendation from his father to present to Monsieur de Treville; the commander of the King’s Musketeers (Sarah Coyne) in the hope of joining the guard. But alas he is stripped of the letter in an inn on his journey, and shortly after arriving in Paris schedules simultaneous duels with Athos (Stuart Tavendale), Porthos (Karol Stanisz) and Aramis (Christopher Laishley) which fortuitously never take place. As the four join forces instead to defeat Cardinal Richelieus guards, and so it becomes “One for all” for the rest of our tale.
For me one of the most notable features throughout this production was the magnificent elements of stage combat which the entire cast were heavily involved in. The parries were slick, well-choreographed and convincingly thrilling. The cast had the audience in the palm of their hands rooting for the success of the Musketeers throughout the show. During one of the battle sequences D’Artagnan also performed a daring somersault on stage which my gymnast 10-year-old really enjoyed. I was also incredibly impressed with the quality of the costumes and the casts frequent quick changes which enabled them all to portray a number of characters throughout the show.
Amidst all of the duelling there were also many light-hearted comedy moments scattered throughout the show. Some overworked ‘horses’ and a rather camp Duke of Buckingham (Stuart Tavendale) provided just two of these moments, which were met with great laughter from the audience. There are also some moments of passion throughout the show as D’Artganan falls for Constance Bonacieux (Sarah Coyne) on his journey and the other Musketeers have some cheeky dalliances at some the many inns they visit on their quests.
I really enjoyed the performances from all of the six cast members in this production, they all worked incredibly hard to bring life to these famous and varying literary characters. Having not read the novels myself I found that the show was well paced and action packed and I left having enjoyed the story and learnt a lot more about the Musketeers than I’d retained from watching Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds in my youth (giving away my age there).
The company has recommended that this show is suitable for ages 8+ and I would concur with this, at 135 minutes in duration (including a 20-minute interval) the show would be quite a long watch for younger children. It made for a fantastic evening, and a perfect story for an outdoor setting. Illyria is returning to the Hawth Amphitheatre on 31st July with another of their 2026 shows – The Pirates of Penzance.
The Three Musketeers is playing at venues across the country until 6th September 2026.
Reviewer: Lisa Dawn