This year’s Royal Shakespeare Company Christmas show is an all-new adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers by innovative theatre company Told By An Idiot. The classic swashbuckling adventure will be a real festive treat for all the family, says its director, Paul Hunter...

Alexandre Dumas’ classic 19th-century historical adventure The Three Musketeers has been adapted for stage and screen no end of times, with more than 50 film and TV versions alone.

One particular rendering made a big impact on a youngster growing up in the Birmingham suburb of Harborne. Paul Hunter, co-founder & artistic director of London-based theatre company Told By An Idiot, was still at school when his father took him to see Richard Lester’s 1973 movie starring such acting luminaries as Richard Chamberlain, Oliver Reed, Christopher Lee, Raquel Welch and even Spike Milligan.

“It left a big impression on me,” says the actor, writer & director, whose memories of movie-going, and seeing that film in particular, ignited his interest in acting, storytelling and performance.

“When I was a kid, certainly up to the early teenage years, I used to be taken by my dad to the cinema. He worked nights, so he would often take me on a Friday afternoon after school. In 1974 we went to the Odeon in Selly Oak and saw Richard Lester’s film version of The Three Musketeers and I absolutely loved it. It was that classic adventure story told brilliantly - I just adored it.”

The movie clearly made an impression, as Paul has carried the idea of a stage adaptation in the back of his mind for the best part of a decade. When Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) artistic directors Tamara Harvey and Daniel Evans offered him the chance to create a Christmas show for the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST), it was the first thing that came to his mind.

“I suddenly thought I wanted to tackle a big story and do something that goes back to my childhood. In a way, the whole aim of the production was to make a show for my seven-year-old self - I thought that if I can do that, then the chances are that everybody else will enjoy it as well.”

Paul has now lived in London longer than he resided in the second city, so his gently cheerful voice contains negligible Brummie twang, although he drops a variety of local references (he’s worked at loads of regional venues) and admits the accent quickly returns whenever he’s back “and certainly when I’m with my sisters or old school friends”.

But what about the musketeers? Who will they sound like? Will they be speaking in French, or with French accents?

“That’s a good question. And I don’t know that I want to say!” he laughs. “Let’s just say there might be some French spoken, but I don’t think you’ll hear a French accent.

“That was a conscious decision while I was adapting it, but we’ve got quite an international company of performers who speak a variety of languages, so we’ll be including that in the action at some point.”
Speaking of action, the production features plenty of swashbuckling and adventure, as well as a predominantly female cast, which the director thinks will enable audiences to view the tale from a fresh perspective.

“I wanted to explore the notion that the musketeers - Athos, Aramis and Porthos - were all women playing men, and it produced some really interesting ideas and dynamics in a story that can be quite male-oriented.

“Suddenly it opened up more possibilities when you saw these brilliant women - and the three women I’ve got are fantastic - and what they can do. What kind of happens is the audience forget that they’re women playing musketeers but don’t forget, if that makes sense?

“There’s also one of the most iconic female villains; Milady is an absolute corker of a villain. I really like the fact that, as well as three women playing musketeers, you have a very dangerous and charismatic woman taking them on.”

The show will be one of the biggest that Told By An Idiot - which typically specialises in experimental visual comedy - has ever put on, but Paul is embracing the challenge and the opportunities which playing in a big theatre will bring.

“Some people find it a bit intimidating, but I love the space as an actor with the audience around you on three sides. I think the key thing is to absolutely embrace that, because it’s a wonderful theatrical space that audiences can get totally involved in.”

He also has a way of dealing with things if he ever gets worried about the enormity of the project.

“I just imagine we’re doing this in a tiny theatre above a pub in Digbeth,” he laughs, admitting he sized up the RST while he was playing Pistol in an RSC production of Henry V earlier this year.

“I had to be very focused during performances, but you’re sitting around a lot in technical rehearsals, so I spent all my time thinking ‘what about that space?’, and ‘what about if that could happen there?’

“The best way for me to get to grips with that space was to play in it, so I can take that understanding. And hopefully, the brilliant acting company we’ve assembled will feel reassured by the fact that I’ve been in that space fairly recently.”

Paul is also acutely aware of the importance of putting on a quality show during the festive season, which is often the only time families visit the theatre en masse.

“I'm very conscious that it’s expensive and might be some people’s first time at the theatre, and I take that responsibility very seriously. I want them to go home having had a great time.”

Creating a family appeal is especially important for a production that’s clearly not a pantomime or even a festive story, although Paul claims there’s a Christmas element within the piece and teases “we might discover more”.

“What this brings, which I think works as a Christmas show for all the family, is that it taps into some of those big adventure movies - Indiana Jones, Raiders Of The Lost Ark and so on - that we all watch together on telly.”

The production also contains a number of surprises that he won’t be drawn on, albeit dropping a huge hint about something else inspired by his childhood.

“My favourite band of the day was Slade, so my two influences were Richard Lester’s film and the music of Slade - I won’t go any further, but I’ll leave that with you!”

He can’t possibly reveal whether that means we’re going to hear Noddy Holder screaming “It’s Christmaaaas!”, but he’s confident to claim that the “funny, romantic adventure” will entertain families “in the style that only live theatre can do”, and that the show has been created “in a way that feels inventive and surprising”.

The latter element is especially appealing to someone who has regularly worked on children’s productions and can liken the whole thing to wrapping up a Christmas gift for attendees.

“I think the notion of surprise, both in the story and how you’re doing it, keeps an audience engaged. Sometimes we don’t realise how important the notion of surprise is in telling something - and this version is full of surprises and not what you expect.”

The Three Musketeers shows at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, from Saturday 28 November to Saturday 9 January

By Steve Adams