THERE'S been a lot going on at Basingstoke's Haymarket theatre.

Sweaty, barefoot actors have come stumbling into the bar panting for a reviving coffee. The clash of swords and shouts of "en garde" have echoed around the rehearsal room and auditorium, and this was not just the men being macho - the girls were also involved in some strenuous sword practice!

All this swashbuckling has to be so carefully choreographed. And among all this organised chaos, songs were being practised and musical instruments were tuned up.

This is The Three Musketeers Haymarket Theatre-style, with a cast of a dozen actors/musicians putting equal emphasis on the music as well as the swash-buckling.

Making his third Christmas visit to Basingstoke - previously he was in Canterbury Tales and Pickwick - is Christopher Dickins, musical director as well as playing Aramis, one of the three musketeers.

He let me listen to a couple of the songs, recorded during rehearsals. His wild enthusiasm is contagious.

"We wanted to keep the music very much in the style of French chansons - Edith Piaf, Charles Trenet, Mistinguet - those sort of people. But some of them are a bit too 20th century, too indoors, too much like cabaret.

"We needed a more rough-and-ready outdoors sound. For instance, when we all ride out together on our first adventure, the music is an heroic song echoing the rhythm of the horses galloping."

In the production, Chris also plays the recorder, the accordion, piano and drums. Although he trained as an actor, his musical education was picked up by playing in school orchestras and singing in the chapel choir. His three years at Cambridge were mainly spent performing in amateur dramatics.

"I also rowed for my college. I was in the second eight. I'd never rowed before, never been any good at any sport. I think I was good at it because of my musical background. The rhythm of rowing is rather like playing in a string quartet."

When The Three Musketeers finishes in the New Year, he is off to Hamburg for the start of a Germany-wide tour of Scarlatti in Paradise.

"It's a classical spoof, rather like an old-fashioned burlesque. We do it in English, but because we chose the language carefully with most of the jokes being visual, the Germans are delighted that they understand it all.

"The Germans do have a sense of humour, but I think what they lack is a sense of irony."

But for now his wild enthusiasm has to be concentrated on the present production.

"We are staying absolutely true to the Alexandre Dumas story, with much of the music based on traditional French tunes. For instance, when Athos sings about his past and his broken heart, I have linked this to an old Corsican folk song.

"I have composed some of the others - there's a drinking song, as well as a type of sea shanty which is sung when d'Artagnan cons his way onto a boat.

"I've written them in a folk style, but with a certain fierceness.

"The songs come at significant moments in the story - they comment on the plot. Although they are original arrangements and compositions, I've tried to make them sound vaguely familiar. It's music that people will remember. I want them to leave the theatre humming the tunes.

"It's an adventure play with music, and the whole show comes across as good fun."

The Three Musketeers runs at Basingstoke's Haymarket Theatre until January 10.