Celebrating community and theatre: An interview with Daryl Cloran

The Citadel Theatre’s season is ending with a bang with an action-packed production of The Three Musketeers. I spoke with Daryl Cloran, the Citadel’s artistic director and director of the production, about his love for the theatre and the play.

The 2023-24 season’s theme was “all for one and one for all,” the musketeers’ motto. But the motto also encapsulates many of the themes of this season’s shows. 

“All of the shows were stories about people coming together to fight for their communities or for their families,” Cloran explained. “Knowing that we were doing The [Three] Musketeers at the end, it felt like a really great motto for all of the shows to rally around.”

Cloran added that the collaborative nature of theatre is what made him interested in the art. He shared that from his own experience, directing film and television can be lonelier, because the director only spends so much time with the actors and then has to edit everything separately from the performers. But, this isn’t the case in theatre.

“It’s very much about a group of people coming together to build something,” he said. “It’s about empowering the artists to go out and tell the story.”

After the toll COVID-19 took on the theatre community, Cloran said a big goal for this season was to get people out and excited about live theatre again. He emphasized the theatricality of The Three Musketeers, and described it as fast and funny. He added that it really leans into many things that are great about theatre, like live sword-fighting, giant sets, and costumes. 

“It has a giant heart to it, which is what attracted me to it,” he explained. 

Cloran discussed the process of adapting such an old story to the stage, and what strategies were used to keep the production faithful to its source material, while also being fun and relevant for a modern audience. He said some adaptations of the story are not as engaging or relevant, but the script he landed on does a great job of maintaining the story while staying fun. 

Cloran also emphasized the costumes and sound design. He described how the design elements have one foot in the period, maintaining historical silhouettes and the general feel. But, they also incorporate many modern design elements, making the show a mix between the past and present. 

Modernizing the story created the opportunity of playing with gender in the production. The original story features mostly male characters. But, the Citadel’s production changed the genders of some of the main protagonists.

 “Playing with gender and subverting expectations a little bit, and getting to show off the great fighting skills of some of our female-identifying cast, has been a lot of fun.”

The Three Musketeers not only coined the theme of the Citadel’s season. It also encapsulates the true meaning of what theatre means to many: love and community. You will not want to miss this action-packed, hilarious adaption of a modern classic. The show runs from April 20 to May 12. Tickets can be found here.