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| Cyrano de Bergerac - Richard Roxburgh |
As the 2014 Sydney Theatre Company season draws to a close, it seems very appropriate that Edmond Rostand's, Cyrano de Bergerac concludes the year on a high point. This version of the play is an adaptation by Andrew Upton of the original tragicomic work by Rostand and mercifully the adjustment of dialogue does not transpose all of the script into lazy 20th Century colloquialism. There are, however the odd moments in scenes where the modern English usage is cringe worthy but these are few and far between.
Rostand's play is focused on Hercule Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, a nobleman serving as a soldier and commander in the French Army. He is a man of many talents being a gifted duelist, swordsman, poet and musician but he has considerable self doubt due to having an extremely large nose. His romantic interest is his distant cousin, the beautiful and intellectual heiress, Roxane, whom he has known since childhood. Unaware of his affections, Roxane has become interested in the handsome yet stupid young nobleman, Christian de Neuvillete who has enlisted as a cadet in de Bergerac's regiment. It is from this point that a grand deception takes places for the handsome Christian does not possess the written poetic and oratory skills to win Roxane's heart yet Cyrano does not believe that Roxane could love as ugly a man as believes himself to be. He thus concludes an arrangement to provide Christian with the letters and poems to win Roxane's heart reasoning that at least if she does not love him, then she will love his words spoken by Christian.
Rostand's play is focused on Hercule Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, a nobleman serving as a soldier and commander in the French Army. He is a man of many talents being a gifted duelist, swordsman, poet and musician but he has considerable self doubt due to having an extremely large nose. His romantic interest is his distant cousin, the beautiful and intellectual heiress, Roxane, whom he has known since childhood. Unaware of his affections, Roxane has become interested in the handsome yet stupid young nobleman, Christian de Neuvillete who has enlisted as a cadet in de Bergerac's regiment. It is from this point that a grand deception takes places for the handsome Christian does not possess the written poetic and oratory skills to win Roxane's heart yet Cyrano does not believe that Roxane could love as ugly a man as believes himself to be. He thus concludes an arrangement to provide Christian with the letters and poems to win Roxane's heart reasoning that at least if she does not love him, then she will love his words spoken by Christian.
Richard Roxburgh more than ably handles the role of Cyrano de Bergerac conveying the perfect measure of the character's emotional, if somewhat, contradictory expressions of self loathing, bravado, angst and poetical romanticism. He is supported by a competent cast with Eryn Jean Norvill as Roxane, Yalin Ozucelik as Le Bret, Josh McConville as De Guiche, David Whitney as Ragueneau, Julia Zemiro as Roxane's nurse and veteran Australian actor, Bruce Spence appears as the drunkard Ligniere. Set design by STC's Alice Babidge is functional, imaginative and gives maximum focus in the performance space to the actors. This is a professional and entertaining production to end the season.
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