“I have loved but one man in my life,” she says, “and I have lost him twice.” The cast is rounded out by various friends, villains, companions and hangers-on.

Only too late, does Roxane discover that Cyrano was the letter writer.

When Christian dies in battle, Roxane retires to a convent to mourn him. It is Cyrano, however, who has written the letters when Christian proved to have no ability to convey the language of courtly love, so prized by précieuse Roxane. She later moves beyond this superficial attraction, and comes to love Christian’s soul through the letters he writes to her. Roxane, in turn, loves the cadet Christian de Neuvillette (Jeff Irving) who is jaw-droppingly handsome. Unfortunately, Cyrano’s swash-buckling panache covers-up a deep-seated inferiority caused by his huge ugly nose. Cyrano (Tom Rooney), an independently-minded, free-spirited soldier, poet, swordsman and philosopher, loves his cousin Madeleine Robin, who as a précieuse has taken the name of Roxane (Deborah Hay). Hennig’s version also gives new perspective on character and text.įor those who don’t know the story, here is a brief summary. As a result, we have an English adaptation that is a more faithful recreation of Rostand’s wit, satire, melodrama, and yes, poetry. As she writes in her program notes, she opted for prose to get closer to Rostand’s original dialogue. To emulate Rostand, almost all translations of Cyrano create a verse drama in whatever the language, but Kate Hennig, the Shawfest’s associate artistic director, has taken a fresh approach in her new adaptation. The very first time I saw Cyrano, I actually thought Rostand was the same vintage as Molière and Racine, when in fact, he was a contemporary of George Bernard Shaw. The Shaw Festival’s new adaptation of Cyrano is another jewel to add to the play’s diadem of much-loved productions.įrench playwright Edmond Rostand took a big chance in 1897 when he wrote Cyrano in the old-fashioned style of a seventeenth-century verse drama in Alexandrine rhyming couplets. You could almost say that it is foolproof theatre with its endearing hero, romantic story of blighted love, and tragic/comic interplay. Tickets available at .Ĭyrano de Bergerac is one of the most popular French plays in the world having charmed legions of audiences in a multitude of languages. Shaw Festival 2019/ Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, translated and adapted by Kate Hennig, directed by Chris Abraham, Royal George Theatre, Jul. Tom Rooney as Cyrano and Deborah Hay as Roxane with Sharry Flett as Companion in Cyrano de Bergerac.

Cyrano de bergerac 2019