Hot on the heels of the New Vic’s international transfer of The Princess and The Pea to New York (a co-production with Upswing and The Unicorn Theatre), the theatre’s rehearsals for their next production created for families and young people, The Three Musketeers, are now underway.
Directed by New Vic Artistic Director Theresa Heskins (Marvellous, opening production @sohoplace, Olivier award-winning The Worst Witch, West End), this brand-new adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ classic literary story will take to the New Vic’s in-the-round stage from Friday 15 November 2024 to Saturday 25 January 2025.
Creating the characters of this new version of, arguably, Dumas’ best-known tale are Harris Cain (Nothello, Belgrade Theatre, Charlie and Stan, Told by an Idiot) as City Guard & Dressmaker; Gareth Cassidy (Ladies Down Under, Marvellous) as King; Thomas Dennis (War Horse, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, National Theatre) as Aramis; Jack Elliot (The Mousetrap, West End) as Captain of the Guard; Farrah Hughes (Tess: A New Musical, Night Project Theatre at RSC’s The Other Place) as City Guard; Erin Jackson (Guardians of the Galaxy – The Live Immersive Experience, Marvel Studios and Secret Cinema) as City Guard & Housemaid; Stephen Louis (Fight Director for Twelfth Night, London Touring Players) as Fight Assistant & Onstage Swing; Ericson Mitchell (Astley’s Astounding Adventures, New Vic, Fate: The Winx Saga, Netflix) as City Guard & Reporter; Mountview graduate Lemar Moller making his stage debut as D’Artagnan; Perry Moore (A Leap In the Dark, Marvellous) as Cardinal; Charlotte Price (Common, National Theatre/Headlong) as Milady; Chloe Ragrag (The Farewell Glacier, BBC Radio 3) making her stage debut as Constance; Louis J Rhone (The Burnt City, Punchdrunk, Coriolanus, Sheffield Crucible) as Athos; Rhiannon Skerritt (The Princess and the Pea, Beauty and the Beast) as Onstage Swing; Hadley Smith (Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Dickens Theatre Company) as Porthos; and Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) graduate Emma Symmonds making her stage debut as Queen.
New Vic Artistic Director Theresa Heskins said: “Alexandre Dumas began his writing career as a playwright. No wonder he loves action. Theatre-in-the-round loves it too, so Dumas’ 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 new production, Theresa Heskins will return to Dumas’ original 1844 story, first published in serial form in the French newspaper Le Siècle. Dumas’ father had been a military hero; a ‘Hercules’ who had risen to the rank of General by the age of 31 and whose exploits inspired his son’s fiction. This illustrious career had been achieved whilst experiencing discrimination, injustice, and outright racial abuse, for the General had been born in Haiti, the illegitimate son of an enslaved African woman. The surname Dumas came from her. Alexandre Dumas was proud of his father and grandmother, proud to take her name, and has made it famous all over the world. Since its first serialisation in 1844 The Three Musketeers has continued to thrill readers and audiences in its many guises and this new adaptation from the New Vic will now introduce a new generation of children to this classic literary tale.
The Three Musketeers takes to the stage at the New Vic from Friday 15 November 2024 to Saturday 25 January 2025. Tickets are on sale now, priced from £10.00. For more information and to book call the Box Office on 01782 717962 or visit newvictheatre.org.uk.
