Rehearsals have begun for a new adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’s The Three Musketeers, which will be staged at Newcastle-under-Lyme’s New Vic at Christmas 2024.
The theatre’s artistic director, Theresa Heskins, will direct the show. She said, “Alexandre Dumas began his writing career as a playwright. No wonder he loves action. Theatre-in-the-round loves it too, so Dumas’s swashbuckling epic is perfect for the New Vic's unique space which we’re filling with this massive adventure, breathtaking action sequences and a powerful story about achieving your dreams.
“Discovering the story of Alexandre’s father Thomas, who was born into slavery, joined the military as a private and worked his way up to be France’s youngest ever general, is the inspiration at the heart of our version.”
For this production, Heskins will return to Dumas’s original 1844 story. Dumas’s father had been a military hero who rose to the rank of general by the age of 31 and whose exploits inspired his son's fiction. This illustrious career had been achieved while experiencing discrimination, injustice and outright racial abuse. The general was born in Haiti, the illegitimate son of an enslaved African woman. The surname Dumas came from her.
The cast of The Three Musketeers comprises Harris Cain as city guard and dressmaker, Gareth Cassidy (King), Thomas Dennis (Aramis), Jack Elliot (captain of the guard, Farrah Hughes (city guard), Erin Jackson (city guard and housemaid), Stephen Louis (fight assistant and onstage swing), Ericson Mitchell (city guard and reporter), Lemar Moller (D’Artagnan), Perry Moore (cardinal), Charlotte Price (Milady), Chloe Ragrag (Constance), Louis J Rhone (Athos), Rhiannon Skerritt (onstage swing), Hadley Smith (Porthos) and Emma Symmonds (Queen).
The Three Musketeers will run at theNew Vic from Friday 15 November until Saturday 25 January 2025. Press performances will be on Wednesday 27 November at 10:30AM and 2:15PM.