Three Musketeers / Q and A with Ken Ludwig

Why did you write this adaptation in the first place?

As time goes by and I write more and more plays, I get the encouraging sense that I understand plays better and how to be a better playwright.  So when I have a chance to look back at a script that is a decade or two old, more and more I look at parts of it and say, “I can improve that!”  That was the case with the Three Musketeers.  I should add that my adaptation of the Three Musketeers was originally written in haste.  The Bristol old Vic was going to produce my adaptation of Treasure Island, but found out that summer that another theatre nearby was going to produce the same adaptation in the fall.  So the artistic director of the Bristol Old Vic called me and said that he wanted to do one of my plays in the fall, indeed wanted to do an adaptation of a popular adventure novel, but it could no longer be Treasure Island and did I have any ideas for a new adaptation. The rub was that I had about 6 weeks to choose the title and write the play. I have always been a huge fan of The Three Musketeers so I told him that was it. And he immediately began advertising the production. At that point I hadn’t written a word, so I rolled up my sleeves and realized with horror that the novel by Alexander Dumas was closes to a thousand pages long.  I gulped, read the novel and wrote the adaptation all at a go, and the Bristol Old Vic produced it with great success. 

What prompted you to make changes in the script?

I have always felt that I short-changed some of the incidents and characters a bit, and it has been a joy to go back and reexamine certain moments in the play.  

The opportunity to reexamine the play arose largely because my old and dear friend Rick Sordelet called me up and had ideas for directing the play at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival.  When Rick took the reins and we began discussions of the text, I realized, with Rick’s encouragement, that this was the perfect time to make those changes that I had dreamed of so often.  

Has the overall plot shifted?

No, the plot has stayed the same as the first time around and remained faithful to the original novel.  However, as any reader of the novel can see, the action of the play encompasses only about the first quarter of the novel and then sort of jumps to the end. 

Are there any new scenes?

Yes, there are a couple of new scenes.  The most notable one, which was suggested to me specifically by Rick was a new scene between D’Artagnan and Constance.   Looking at the first version of the play, we felt that we didn’t understand sufficiently D’Artagnan’s growing love for Constance and his willingness to make sacrifices for her. So I added Act I, scene 9.  

Are there any new characters?

Yes, Septime, the servant to the queen who is waiting to take Constance back to the queen is new in this version. Otherwise, the characters are all the same.