“All for one and one for all!” rings out the cry of the three musketeers and the girl D’Artagnan. Girl? Yes, girl! Hattie Naylor’s adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’s fiction is charmingly gender-playful. The charm is not anodyne – it’s the sparkle on this purposeful play, in which acceptance and inclusivity are the keynotes.
This is a sword-flashing, silks-rustling production with a thrillingly romantic setting – the glorious, grassy, wooded, stone-staircased, domed-monumented park. The baddies are as bad as anybody could wish for (“It’s not Christmas!” snarls Christopher Bianchi’s dastardly Cardinal, as the crowd hisses and boos), while the goodies swerve soppiness by being as ridiculous as they are heroic – thanks to Sarah Punshon’s astute direction.
A witty, imaginative lightness of touch characterises every aspect of the Dukes’ theatre company’s 32nd promenade production in the park, from frothing costumes (by Barney George) to dashing performances. Here, a few must stand for the many: Lucy Jane Parkinson’s klutzy D’Artagnan; Rebecca Banatvala’s ever-in-love Aramis and devilishly seductive Milady; Delme Thomas’s wig-fixated King Louis (also Buckingham) with Nisa Cole as his perruquier (one of her three excellent roles); and the entertainingly polymorphous community company (including shrieking human-peacock).
Naylor never allows seriousness to spoil the fun, but nor does she let us forget that the Cardinal’s aim is to start a war. That word “war”, cleverly placed, thrums through the script; there is more at stake here than the loss of the Queen’s necklace. In this context, there is nothing frivolous about choosing kindness and co-operation over plotting and antagonism – these are what make possible the dance of life (played out to Matt Padden’s informatively eclectic sound design), where the one meshes with the all (and even a talking horse can become a musketeer).
• The Three Musketeers is at Williamson Park, Lancaster, until 18 August
