The show, now in its 12th year, has featured a variety of superb performances over the years, including such gems as "Sing a Song of Six Pence," "Sinbad," "Rumplestiltskin," "Mother Goose," "Snow White" and "Tom the Piper's Son," all portrayed in the British comedic style.

 While in past years, many of their scripts have come from the talented pen of popular pantomime writer Norman Robbins, troupe members have diverted from that source for this year's show, which has been written by the team of director, Jon Allen and local writer-actor, Dave Brumwell.

 "It's very, very loosely based on Dumas' novel 'The Three Musketeers,' with a few extra characters, and an emphasis on the 'very,'" Mr. Allen laughs, adding that both he and Mr. Brumwell have written a number of their own works previously and the idea of writing a pantomime together was appealing.

 He says while Mr. Robbins' plays are always very good, "they have the same sort of pattern all the time, so we thought it might be a nice challenge to write our own.

 "So, we really wanted to think what we could base it on, and then [Dave] got a little copy of the 'The Three Musketeers,'" he explains.

 The book, given to Mr. Brumwell by Kenny Murphy, a prominent purveyor of fine used goods at the Mahone Bay flea market, appears to have been the catalyst to set their creative juices flowing.

 "He brought this little book in and says you have to read this and I said, 'yeah, right,' and I was just flicking through it and thought, I wonder if anybody has done a pantomime on the 'The Three Musketeers,'" Mr. Brumwell says.

 He raised the possibility with Mr. Allen and the rest is, as they say, history, or at least history in the making.

 "We drifted away a lot from what was in the book, and it had a life of its own after that," Mr. Allen says. "And we tried to keep it away from the Norman Robbins' type pantomime. We developed a unique plot."

 The "good guys" in the story are, of course, the three musketeers who are led, not by D'Artagnon, but by a character they have anointed, "Daft Onion."

 That part is being played by budding Mahone Bay actress, Ariel Detraz, who dons the male lead role or that of the principal boy, as it is called in English pantomime, while Hailey Langille plays Connie, Daft Onion's love interest.

 Mr. Brumwell plays the role of Quasimodo, "as well as the back end of a horse," while John Letson appears as cardinal Richness and Annie Stockdale is Big Louie, the king.

 This year's Christmas pantomime, which features a 40-member-strong cast, is being produced by Lyne Hoeg and directed by Mr. Allen, with music under the direction of Darlene Sanford and costumes by Jackie Chegrinec.

 The title song of the production, "The Musketeer Song," was written by local singer-songwriter Hank Middleton while the other 10 in the production are well known songs with "some lyrics changed.

 "When you write something for the first time and it's never been put on stage its like a work in progress," Mr. Allen says.

 "A lot of the stuff, so far, has generally worked okay as we visualized it, but sometimes it's like, how can I figure that out? It's not going to work."

 "The Three Musketeers" will be performed at the Pearl Theatre in Lunenburg with 7 p.m. performances November 27 and 28 and December 4 and 5.

 There will also be matinees held at 2 p.m. on November 29 and December 5 and 6.