The Justice

Media Credit: Courtesy of Mike Lovett ALL FOR ONE: The Brandeis Theater Company's second offering this fall showcased the actors' swordfighting ability as well as their acting chops.

The Brandeis Theater Company strikes again for their second show in the 2007 to 2008 season with Alexander Dumas' Three Musketeers, performed by the Double Edge Theater Ensemble in Laurie Theater last weekend. Dumas' novel, adapted for the stage by Stacy Klein and Matthew Glassman is the adventurous tale of sworn alliances, revenge and true love, all proven to govern the impulses and rationality of mankind.

The plot is a quite convoluted one, despite being a greatly shortened adaptation, and begins with an introduction to the mighty musketeers, a group of highly skilled, specially trained swordsmen, sworn to risk life and limb for the protection of their beloved king of England. They soon cross paths with the young and pugnacious D'Artagnan, who manages to anger each musketeer until they are driven to challenge him to three separate duels.

Their vendettas are thwarted, however, when guards from Cardinal Richelieu's regiment engage the fighters and force them to showcase their fighting skills. The musketeers, thoroughly impressed by D'Artagnan's abilities, entreat him to join their cause. Soon the four must embark on a quest to recover the queen's diamonds, which she foolishly gave away to her lover, the Duke of Buckingham. The diamonds are desperately needed for the ball that the conniving cardinal arranged for the specific purpose of embarrassing the diamondless queen. What ensues is an expedition rife with deception, betrayal and revenge in which, with a furious clanging of swords, the foursome battle for justice in the name of the king. You know the script-it's invigorating on paper. The quality variance of this play depends upon its execution.

The actors who played the musketeers did a respectable job. They didn't tend to lay on an outrageously thick air of nobility that might manifest itself in the form of megaphonelike vocal projection and overly conscientious syllabic articulation. Other, minor characters fell victim to this hyperbolic theatrical style, but that was not the musketeers' problem. The four men-all Theater Arts students-Robert Serrell (GRAD) '08, Anthony Stockard (GRAD) '08, Brian Weaver (GRAD) '08 and Matthew Crider (GRAD) '08-were largely believable and retained a sense of authenticity. If anything, they did not project and articulate enough, as most of their words could not be accurately comprehended.

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