The Director of this production is William Baggs
William has been a member since the early 2010s. Whilst an experienced director elsewhere, this is his first time directing for Maskers. William has appeared in many productions, including the lead role in Richard II, Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest, King James in Anne Boleyn and two productions at the Nuffield Theatre, Ten Times Table and Sitting Pretty. William enjoys acting and directing equally and is very grateful for the opportunity to steer this year’s summer show for Maskers.
Assistant Director of this production is Jillian Desborough
Jill has been a member of Maskers for about seven years and has been involved in many shows, both on and off the stage. In 2020, just before lockdown, she directed her first show, Quartet, at Maskers Studio and last Christmas co-directed the Christmas show, A Box of Delights, with Brian Stansbridge. Jill enjoys the teamwork involved in putting on a show and loves being part of the wonderful team working on The Three Musketeers.
D'Artagnan is played by David Jobson
David dons the tabard once again, having performed in The Three Musketeers twice before - once as Porthos for Winchester University and a year later in the Chesil Theatre’s outdoor production. He has been part of many Maskers’ shows, including Richard II, The Jungle Book, Around the World in Eighty Days and An Italian Straw Hat. He has also performed a number of Shakespearean roles at the Titchfield Festival Players’ Tithe Barn, including Cassius in Julius Caesar, Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing, and Malcolm in Macbeth. David is also a trustee for Flute Theatre, a company that uses the language of Shakespeare to help autistic youngsters to communicate.
Athos is played by Duncan Randall
Duncan has a track record in community theatre spanning more than a decade (on and off) in various places. He started as a character actor at primary school and has played the bumbling detective in many a murder mystery in Kineton Amateur Dramatics. Then, on moving to the south coast, he joined Titchfield Festival Theatre (TFT). His creations for TFT include Going and Lupin (Diary of a Nobody), Enobarbus (Anthony and Cleopatra), Goldberg (The Birthday Party) Ken of The Saga of Ken and Sandra, the Landlord in Jim Cartwright’s Two and Laurence in Abigail’s Party. Duncan recently moved to Southampton and the Maskers. Rehearsing the Three M’s, playing three parts, has certainly cantered away the lockdown blues - and shifted a bit of the lockdown bulge.
Porthos / Milady de Winter is played by Rachel Di Nucci
Rachel joined Maskers in September 2019 but has been in drama productions throughout school, university and Stagecoach. Musketeers is the second show she has been in with Maskers; the first being Four Weddings and An Elvis, playing ex-con Fiona who’s engaged to postman Marvin. Rachel has enjoyed working in rehearsals to find her character, though she is beginning to wonder if she will always be cast as a criminal whose main plotline seems to be centred around the post!
Aramis is played by Abi Linnartz
Abi began acting at school at the age of 16, where her first major role came as the Master of Ceremonies in Cabaret. Since coming to University in Southampton many, many years ago, Abi has performed with a variety of drama companies throughout the area. Abi has been a performer with Titchfield Festival Theatre since its first production in 2001 at Titchfield Abbey. Since then, she has continued to participate in productions at the Great Barn and at its new home in St Margaret’s Lane. Productions include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Servant of Two Masters, A Day In the Death of Joe Egg, Antony and Cleopatra, The Bible (Abridged), The Last Secret, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune and Mapp and Lucia. Abi has also performed at the Brighton Fringe in The Field Street Monologues for Rusty Bucket Productions.
ASM / Queen Anne are played by Emma Kirkpatrick
Emma has been part of Maskers since 2021 and has been part of one production: Out of Focus, playing the part of Linda. She studied Drama at university before training to become a primary school teacher. This is Emma's first outside production and she is very excited to be playing multiple parts in this comedy piece.
Maman / Ensemble are played by Marie McDade
This will be Marie’s sixth outing on the Maskers’ outdoor stage – from Shakespearian Midsummer fairy to Kipling’s Jungle Book panther, assorted characters travelling Around the World in 80 Days, Pygmalion, and most recently Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing in 2021. Indoor shows have included Richard II, Granny Weatherwax in Wyrd Sisters, A Bunch of Amateurs and Out of Focus. Being one of the Masketeers is another opportunity for her to play a wide range of colourful characters.
Papa / Nun / Ensemble are played by Adam Taussik
Depuis qu'il a rejoint Maskers il y a 18 ans, Adam a joué des personnages de nombreux rangs, des paysans aux rois (avec une poignée de pasteur, de soldats et d'ours). Il a joué des gens de toutes les nations, et pour ce spectacle, Adam gardera également le ton européen de Much Ado About Nothing de l'année dernière, jouant le premier citoyen français depuis qu'il était le roi de France dans King Lear.
Now in English please Adam:
(Since joining Maskers 18 years ago, Adam has played characters from many ranks, from peasants to kings (with a handful of pastors, soldiers, and bears). He has played people from all nations, and for this show, Adam will also keep the European tone of last year's Much Ado About Nothing, playing the first French citizen since he was king of France in King Lear.)
Felton / M Bonacieux / Ensemble are played by Paul Baker
Paul has been acting with Maskers since 1996 when he made his debut in The Three Musketeers at Mottisfont Abbey. He has since appeared in every Maskers open air show bar one and is the only member of the cast to have appeared in both versions of The Three Musketeers. In this version, like everyone else, he plays multiple characters; in fact, at each of the early rehearsals the list seemed to increase. In his time with Maskers, he has played a multitude of parts including a demon in Wyrd Sisters, Weasel Norman in The Wind in the Willows and a show business agent in Silly Cow and is looking forward to the challenge of playing at least five characters (at the time of writing) in this production.
Treville / Torquil / Ensemble are played by Simon Mewett
Simon’s passion for the creative arts started young and, after studying drama, he moved into radio, as well as performing in various amateur dramatic societies. After a long break from the stage, Simon found himself impressed with the overall quality of Maskers’ productions and the friendliness of the group and was subsequently drawn back.
Simon has learnt a great deal from the other cast members and is looking forward to bringing to life two contrasting characters, under the expert direction of William Baggs.
Sister Mary / Ensemble are played by Hazel Burrows
Hazel has been a member of the Maskers since the mid-70s, enjoying every aspect of theatre; performance, costume, set design and directing.
Her last performance was mid-April in Ugly Lies the Bone, playing a therapist and mother, in an interesting play dealing with how to cope with pain. Last October Hazel directed a comedy, Out of Focus, in our Studio theatre. In The Three Musketeers we see Hazel play a tavern lady, a nun, a sailor, a framed picture... so the art of quick changes can be included in her theatre experience!
Travers / Ensemble are played by Daniel Chopra
Daniel joined Blue Apple theatre company in Winchester in 2017 and has appeared in 13 plays with them before recently joining Maskers. For Blue Apple, he has appeared in The Wizard of Oz, The Tempest, The Railway Children, Much Ado about Nothing, Frankenstein, A White Christmas, Family on the Frontline, Change, Pinocchio and Macbeth and, in 2019, he took part in a student movie called Visual Storm, playing a kidnapped hostage. Blue Apple supports performers with learning differences to develop and present high-quality productions for the widest possible audience – performing and touring theatre, dance and film within a variety of large and small scale venues around Hampshire and the southern regions. Daniel has cerebellar ataxia.