Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Anjana Vasan, Luke Nunn, Sam Troughton, Carl Prekopp, Elizabeth Counsell, Rhiannon Neads, Don Gilet, Shaun Mason, Gerard McDermott, Joe Kloska, Gavi Singh Chera, Ian Dunnett Jnr, Ryan Whittle.
When we think of literature’s greatest female characters, we could possibly be forgiven for ignoring, or passing by, the marvellous Milady de Winter.
In a tale of swords and secrets, spies and seduction, one to which Alexandra Dumas ploughed all his efforts into bringing the political damnations of 17th century France to life, the masculine sense of honour against the machine of state, church, and the machinations of Cardinal Richelieu, there are two women that tread the same narrow path that confines between poverty and affluence, and both have their own ways of dealing with their demons that stalk them.
It is through Milady de Winter, rather than Queen Anne, that the sense of the traditional femme fatale, of the spurned and wronged woman seeking rightful revenge, is given her most prominent voice arguably since Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth.
To capture that fire though, as amply shown in films and television series across the last 100 years, including perhaps the defining performance by Maimie McCoy in the BBC serial The Musketeers, takes fortitude, especially to show the vulnerability in the anger that the woman has because of her origin, her story, and it is one that is lovingly portrayed in the two-part tale radio drama, Milady.
We know the story of D’Artagnan, Porthos, Aramis, and Athos well, but the Milady, the favourite French spy is shrouded in the mists of infamy, of misogynistic behaviour and abandonment, of being a second-class citizen in the eyes of society, and she is, despite it all, a survivor…indeed she is more than that, she is a warrior, just one who uses her wits rather than a rapier.
This insightful origin tale by Lucy Catherine resonates with the iconic moments within the Musketeers’ backdrop, the memorable adversary who dogged the King’s loyal men at every corner and gives her that sese of reality by giving her youth a voice.
Anjana Vasan excels in the role of the girl left with the nuns and who rebelled and enticed a young priest into abandoning his principles, and as she grows in years, so the actor truly combines wisdom with persuasion, and when coupled with the terrific Sam Troughton in the role of Athos, Ms. Vasan entices the audiences with deliberation and the guile necessary to understand why Milady de Winter is one of the most persuasive female characters of all time.
A scintillating two-part radio drama that brings to life the early years of literature’s most famous femme fatale; Milady is the heroine to whom will leave us cold and who we will love for it.
Ian D. Hall