Show: Cyrano de Bergerac
Society: Performance Preparation Academy – PPA (student productions)
Venue: The Mill Studio at Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Millbrook, Guildford, Surrey GU1 3UX
Credits: By Edmond RostandTranslated by Anthony Burgess
Type: Sardines
Author: Meri Mackney
Performance Date: 26/05/2017
Cyrano de Bergerac
Meri Mackney | 27 May 2017 16:44pm
Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmund Rostand, even in this witty and lively translation by Anthony Burgess, is a wordy play. It has been sensitively cut down in this production without losing the flow of the action or too much of the clever repartee. The play tells the story of Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac, a real-life French novelist and playwright, renowned for his wit, his prowess with a sword, his duels and his merciless satirising of those who displeased him. Rostand added the big nose and the unrequited love for his (real) cousin, Roxanne, who did marry Baron Christian of Neuvillette, who did fight alongside him in the Siege of Arras. From this, Rostand creates a story where the ugly but poetic Cyrano finds himself being the voice of the handsome but inarticulate Christian as they both express their love for Roxanne.
The audience is greeted in the spirit of the time (early 17th Century), being challenged over whether they have paid for their tickets. The simple but appropriate set is painted as rose-coloured brickwork to match the surrounding walls of the old mill and dressed with sufficient greenery and dappled lighting to give the effect of outdoors. A staircase leads up to a small balcony, which looks uncomfortably close to the ceiling for actors to stand up there but the height is necessary as it is important to the action of the play that Cyrano or Christian can stand concealed beneath it. Two side rostra with benches give some structure to the space and some variety of levels. The lighting remained fairly low-level throughout and in warm colours, brightening only a little for the daytime scenes. This helped to give an intimate feel to the piece, although I was slightly distracted by bars of red light falling across Cyrano’s nose at the end of the first half.
Performed by third year students of Screen and Stage acting and directed by Linda Miller, I was impressed by the confident and measured performances delivered. With a cast of only seven, even with the cuts to the play, a considerable amount of doubling was required, with even Charlotte Guest (Roxanne) being pressed into service as the pompous buffoon, Montfleury.
Cyrano de Bergerac is a massive part and Ben Gavan, sporting a fabulous nose, carried it off with some style – the occasional hesitation being covered with – well, panache! He captured the spirit of the man and the audience warmed to him; absolutely vital for the pathos of the ending to have impact. He, along with all of the cast, made sure no words were lost to the audience which is no easy task in such a wordy play. Jack Pappara, as Christian, was appealing as the tongue-tied eye-candy, Roxanne falls for. He and Ben Gavan nicely portrayed the growing friendship between the two men, forged under the most unlikely of circumstances.
As if these two rivals are not enough, there is a third suitor, the Comte de Guiche, who tries to remove his acknowledged rival and Cyrano, whom he dislikes, by having them sent to the Siege of Arras but finds himself also caught up in the fighting. This is a masculine male part for a woman to carry off but Paige Gilmour made effective use of the foppish style of behaviour of the period and the audience soon forgot to see her as anything other than her character.
Cyrano was famous for his swordplay and fight director Lisa Connell manages to choreograph some careful sword fights in the tight confines of the studio theatre. This means they lack the excitement of intense fighting but makes it a little easier for Cyrano who, of course, talks while he is fighting.
The one character which I felt suffered from the cuts was Roxanne (Charlotte Guest), who came across as sweet and romantic but lacking the spark and wit to match Cyrano which is there in the full play. She wasn’t helped by an ill-fitting bodice in her first costume, which looked as though it was trying to eat her. This was a shame, as the rest of the costumes were excellent.
All the other characters were played by the three remaining members of the cast. Of their various incarnations, I particularly enjoyed Olivia Haart’s Ragueneau; Meg Lyons’s Sister Marthe and Charlie Ward’s Carbon de Castel-Jaloux.
- : admin
- : 26/05/2017