Fight director Jonathan Hawley Purvis talks swashbuckling sword battles in The Three Musketeers
Based on the 1844 novel by Alexandre Dumas, Arts Club Theatre Company and Citadel Theatre coproduction is full of heroism, passion, and adventure
(From left) Daniel Fong, Nadien Chu, Braydon Dowler-Coltman, and Alexander Ariate in Citadel Theatre’s The Three Musketeers, a 2024 co-production with Arts Club Theatre Company. Photo by Nanc Price
Arts Club Theatre Company and Citadel Theatre present The Three Musketeers at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage from January 16 to February 16
WHEN VANCOUVER-BASED fight director Jonathan Hawley Purvis is working on a theatre show that includes weapons, he’s often asked the same question by audience members: Are the swords real?
The answer is yes (kind of). In the upcoming Arts Club Theatre Company play The Three Musketeers, co-produced with Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre, the swords are made of high-grade aluminum, Hawley Purvis tells Stir. They’re incredibly sturdy, but the aluminum makes them a bit lighter than swords with traditional steel blades, meaning that they’re easier for the actors to maneuver.
So while the swords have had their edges dulled and tips rounded over to lessen the risk of accidentally slicing up a fellow actor, they’re still heavy, solid-metal blades.
“On a film set, that kind of stuff would often be made out of rubber or different types of materials so that there would be no risk of danger,” Hawley Purvis explains. “But on stage, you need that sound. You need that realism of an actual sword making contact with another sword. So they’re constructed as real swords would be—apart from the aluminum blades, of course—but it’s still the same kind of construction, which allows them to be strong, durable, accurate to use, and safe, too. With anything that’s not built properly, having a sword break on stage can be quite dangerous. So they’re as real as you can get without a sharp edge.”
The Three Musketeers is based on Alexandre Dumas’s 1844 novel of the same name. Adapted for the stage by Catherine Bush, the story set in 17th-century Paris follows young swordsman d’Artagnan as he aspires to join three of the most revered musketeers around: Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. Banding together, the four men must thwart the sinister plan of the villainous Cardinal Richelieu.
Helmed by director Daryl Cloran, the production stars Daniel Fong as D’Artagnan, Darren Martens as Athos, Alexander Ariate as Porthos, and Braydon Dowler-Coltman as Aramis. The Three Musketeers is packed to the brim with sword fights—according to Hawley Purvis, virtually every character in the ensemble gets in on the action at one point or another. A highlight is a sword fight between the four musketeers and four of Cardinal Richelieu’s guards, an epic brawl that takes the actors all over the jungle gym-like set designed by Cory Sincennes. Costumes for the show are also by Sincennes; they evoke the vibe and dress of the era, from the plumes on the musketeers’ hats right down to the toes of their foldover leather boots.
“One of the things I love the most about this adaptation is the unabashed sense of adventure,” Hawley Purvis says. “This adaptation spends a lot of its energy and time on keeping that sense of heroism, love, passion, adventure, and even comedy alive. I always say to people that this is the adventure-movie version—this is the Indiana Jones or Back to the Future in comparison to the Game of Thrones, or the long epic, if that makes sense. This one really, really digs into the fun and the joy and the almost cinematic energy of it.”
Jonathan Hawley Purvis.
Hawley Purvis was born in Vancouver and later moved to Calgary, where he trained in the theatre program at Mount Royal College (now Mount Royal University). During that time, a semester of stage-combat courses opened his eyes to the thrill of the art. With a background in competitive dance and gymnastics, Hawley Purvis was particularly well-suited to the movement requirements of combat, and eventually began training in stunts and martial arts, too.
The artist is no stranger to the world of The Three Musketeers; he first acted in the production with Citadel Theatre in 2011 (during which, incidentally, he met his wife, fellow theatre artist Alana Hawley Purvis). He later appeared as musketeer Aramis in St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival’s adaptation in Ontario, for which he was also fight director.
“I always akin it to dance,” he says of combat training. “There’s timing and rhythm involved, but you don’t have music to back it up. You have to work with your partner to create these fantastical sequences, keep each other safe, and obey all the rules so that people don’t get hurt—but at the same time, make it look dangerous. It’s like everything great about a well-written piece of dialogue: it’s all about bringing the audience in. And I love the challenge.”
One thing to note about The Three Musketeers is that Dumas’s novel belongs to the swashbuckler genre of European literature, meaning it revolves around a hero skilled in swordsmanship who embarks on daring feats and romantic adventures. The combat choreography in the production is fun and energetic, Hawley Purvis says, but incorporates some subtle nods to the story’s origins with fencing-style rapier work and other era-accurate weapons like muskets and daggers. All in all, it’s sure to make for a truly exciting watch.
“It’s fast-paced,” Hawley Purvis describes. “It moves quickly. Stakes are immediately high. People immediately fall in love. People immediately sword fight. It’s got that kind of everything-is-heightened energy about it. And I think that works really well for such a huge story; to make that work for the stage, I think you’ve got to just kind of go big and brash with it. And this adaptation really succeeds in that.” 
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