EleanorTurney.co.uk

Bouncy, boisterous and brutal, this is children’s theatre at its best. Rosamunde Hutt’s lively production is full of swash and buckle, without glossing over the darker side of the story which gives it its heart. If you can ignore the slight incongruity of people in high-vis vests suddenly drawing their rapiers – which is easy given the impressive energy displayed by the whole ensemble – the fight scenes steal the show: fight directors Rachel Bown-Williams and Ruth Cooper-Brown have done a fine job. Up, down and every which way around Christopher Fauld’s split-level set, the fights gallop about which the requisite spectacular rescues and near misses.

The whole production bursts with vim and humour, and it is impossible not to admire such a hard-working cast. Amaka Okafor, who excels as the fiery yet helpless Constance, notches up another five characters without breaking a sweat. Eric Nzaramba makes a smoulderingly evil Rochefort, a hard-drinking but sharp Athos and a hilariously vain Buckingham. Carl Miller’s adaptation pulls off a nice trick with the language barrier (the play moves between France and England) which I won’t spoil, but suffice to say that Nzaramba’s Buckingham gets the most laughs out of it. Liam Lane is a boyish and irrepressible D’Artagnan, who is forced to grow up during the course of the play. Lane charts this course with aplomb, from wide-eyed country boy to heart-broken wiser man, although his screeched “A woman weeps, a man revenges” doesn’t ring quite as true as when uttered by Nzaramba’s steely Athos.

Julie Hewlett has fun as Milady, stalking about the stage and bullying her servant (Samantha Adams). Along with Nzaramba’s scary Rochefort (“force is the only way”) and John Cockerill’s cold and merciless Cardinal, the audience is quickly caught up in the complex politics, plots and intrigues that surround the French court. There is a pleasing sense of knowing who we are supposed to be rooting for, and it gives the trio of baddies licence to enjoy being really jolly evil. Cockerill also plays a rather louche Aramis and adds some welcome comic relief as D’Artagnan’s quick-witted servant. Samantha Adams plays an amusingly smutty Porthos and a dignified Queen.

Some of this doubling, tripling and quadrupling gets a touch a confusing from time to time, but mostly it elicits admiration for the versatility and exuberance of the cast. The script also gets a little befuddled occasionally, with a odd mix of archaic syntax and modern language, but it was mostly clever and sharp. The songs were nicely chosen, and Okafor has a lovely voice. So, if there are children of your acquaintance who need something to do during the long Easter holidays, I suggest you hustle them off to the Unicorn for a cracking evening’s entertainment.

The Three Musketeers is playing at the Unicorn Theatre until 8th May. For more information and tickets, see the website here.

There was a curious inevitability about Pilot Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet, even before we learn in the prologue that these star cross’d lovers will take their life. Chloe Lamford’s visually stunning set is covered in an arresting array of flowers. Coupled with spare staging, simple lines and flickering candles, it was clear from the start that this stage would end up a tomb.

A bold concept for directors Marcus Romer and Katie Posner to stake their production on, but ultimately a gamble worth taking. What could easily have become gimmicky, mawkish, distracting, became a neat framing device, never allowing the audience to forget that this would end in tragedy. Mary Rose’s Lady Capulet was a grieving mother before she spoke a line, putting the deaths in universal human terms: we were never allowed to forget that the two hours traffic of the stage would culminate in the end of this lady’s child.

Posner and Romer were lucky in Rachel Spicer’s fantastic, touchingly young Juliet; she was strong enough to wrench real grief from the well-worn story. Her capricious Juliet flitted between emotions but the sheer joy emanating from her when she found Oliver Wilson’s tender Romeo was beautifully bittersweet. Wilson himself had his moments, and did a convincing line in love-lorn, but was a little contrived in his grief, a little overwrought, perhaps. Chris Landon’s impulsive Mercutio, always ready with an innuendo and a cackle, played nicely off Bryn Holding’s earnest, loyal Benvolio, and Landon demonstrated impressive versatility in his prissy Paris, too, giving him an air of never having been denied anything. Louisa Eyo, who played both Nurse and Duke, switched from lewd to stern, from servant to prince with ease, and was impressive in both roles. Her impassive Duke was a commanding presence, and her loving, laughing Nurse was knowing without stooping to the levels of coarseness practised by the young men.

Sandy Nuttgens’s inciental music was particularly striking, offering sound effects and emotive background without overshadowing the sounds on stage. An impressively varied score, and one that underlined the drama at every turn.

Dramaturg Juliet Forster and the cast have obviously had fun with the text, wringing every possible innuendo out of it, and adding some pelvic thrusts where none are strictly necessary for good measure. Romer and Posner have done a great job with the verse, coaxing admirably clear speaking from the whole cast, and making the words sound new. This is not reverent Shakespeare, although there is clearly affection for the language, but Shakespeare played to be understood and enjoyed, even at its saddest. The audience of school children clearly enjoyed the baser humour, and I left with a sense of youth and wit and fun needlessly wasted. Some judicious cuts kept the play near enough to two hours traffic, as opposed to the self-indulgent three that seems the norm, and kept the story zipping along to its sorry conclusion.