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ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT JANUARY 19, 2023
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A CLASH OF SWORDS & WORDS Ken Ludwig’s ‘The Three Musketeers’ is a heavy metal play. Director Peter Amster and Fight Director Geoffrey Kent share why it’s still as sharp as ever.
MARTY FUGATE CONTRIBUTOR
T
alk about a marriage made in theatrical heaven. Peter Amster gets a kick out of finding a fresh directorial take on the classics. Playwright Ken Ludwig knows exactly how
he feels. In his adaptations, Ludwig lovingly takes well-told tales apart and puts them back together in inventive ways. When the Asolo Repertory Theatre staged Ludwig’s adaptation of “Murder on the Orient Express,” Amster seemed like the ideal director. He was. The talents are joining forces again on Ludwig’s adapta-
tion of “The Three Musketeers.” What to expect? After scores of stage and screen adaptations, the plot is fairly familiar. In the 1600s, the Musketeers of the Guard were an elite fighting unit protecting the household of the King of France. D’Artagnan, a young, impressionable country lad, wants to join up and fight evil. Three of the most formidable Musketeers — namely Athos, Porthos and Aramis — take him under their wing. D’Artagnan winds up fighting evil — in the form of the Machiavellian machinations of Cardinal Richelieu and Milady. It’s more than D’Artagnan bargained for. (And if you think evil wins, you didn’t keep up with your high school reading assignments.)
Ludwig’s adaptation honors the core narrative — in his fast-paced, brainy style, of course. There are witty philosophical clashes worthy of George Bernard Shaw. But it’s not just an intellectual exercise. There’s swashbuckling too, bien sûr. His script is a razor-sharp clash of words and swords. To do justice to both, we spoke to both the director and Fight Director Geoffrey Kent. Our first question was pointed … Even with a witty makeover, why put a tale from 1844 on stage? SEE SWORDS, PAGE 2
Photo courtesy of SRQ Headshots
Erin O’Connor and Evan Stevens perform in Asolo Rep’s production of “The Three Musketeers.”