Review: THREE MUSKETEERS by Teater KataK

Teater KataK staged The Musketeers at the Jakarta Art House (GKJ) on Sept. 23 to 25 last week.

Director Venantius Vladimir Ivan suceeded blending humors, drama and romance in this Bahasa Indonesia play. Some musics were beautifully written and involved as the part of the story, as well the attendance of live orchestra in the front right of the stage. The Director / Stagewriter also manage to include some popular jokes that is recognizable almost immediately. The prop was on-point, as well as the lighting, costumes and the maximal use / "distraction" while in blackout time.

The Musketeers tells about a young, poor country boy from Gascogne named

D'Artagnan, who travels to Paris to fulfill his lifelong dream to join the King's

Musketeers. However, an accidental fight with Comte de Rochefort, an agent of Cardinal

Richelieu, leads D'Artagnan to a turbid whirlpool of political intrique within the

Kingdom of France. Along with three Musketeers veterans, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, he struggles to stop Richelieu's scheming to provoke a war between France and England.

During the fight scene, choreography for the Martial Arts is good, although not really neat (probably given the nature of the scene).

The play is adapted from Alexandre Dumas' famous novel The Three Musketeers, which was first published in 1844. The story was popular and well loved because Dumas succeeded to present historical fiction with romance throughout the narrative.

The Kingdom of France and England were indeed involved in the infamous Anglo-French war in the late 1620s. The climax of the war happened during the siege of La Rochelle in the 1627 to 1628 period, in which the pro-Catholic French royal forces of King Louis XIII fought with the pro-Protestant English army.

Meanwhile, most of the major characters in the novel were inspired by real persons, ranging from D'Artagnan who was based on Charles de Batz-Castelmore, to Athos, Porthos and Aramis who were based on Armand d'Athos, Isaac de Portau and Henry d'Aramitz, respectively.

The only fictional character which played a big role in the story was Milady de Winter, who served as the loyal agent of Cardinal Richelieu and was once married to Athos.

Congratulations for KataK troupe!

Photo credits: Teater KataK

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