ajhlovestheatre

CYRANO DE BERGERAC

by Edmond Rostand 

in a new version by Simon Evans and Debris Stevenson 

directed by Simon Evans for the Royal Shakespeare Company

Noël Coward Theatre, London – until 5 September 2026

running time: 2 hours 50 minutes including interval 

https://www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk/whats-on/cyrano-de-bergerac

Tear-soaked yet full of roaring life, this is the sort of golden, glorious production that reminds you of why you fell in love with theatre.  After playing to packed houses and critical acclaim in Stratford-Upon-Avon last year, this Royal Shakespeare Company version of the 1897 Edmond Rostand swashbuckler about the large nosed poet/warrior/lover arrives in the West End for the summer, and it’s possibly the most beautiful, rambunctiously entertaining show in town. It’s certainly one of the most moving.

This adaptation by Simon Evans (who also directs) and Debris Stevenson uses muscular modern language, equal parts poetry and profanity, but remains faithful to the sweeping romanticism and wit of Rostand’s classic. Grace Smart’s costumes suggest early twentieth century rather than the more formal extravagance of the period Rostand was writing for, and her charming balustraded set exists as an extension of the Coward’s auditorium (particularly appropriate as the first scene is set in a ramshackle Parisian theatre), but the whole production has a timelessness that honours this beloved story’s origins while simultaneously allowing it to feel fresh and relevant. This Cyrano de Bergerac probably has more in common with a traditional version than the stunning Jamie Lloyd rap-battling take with James McAvoy a few years ago but it still has a spontaneous, edge-of-your-seat quality that feels like seeing the play for the first time.

One of the major reasons for this is an intelligent repointing of the three central characters, beginning with Cyrano himself, who is shadowed, in Evans’ singular vision, at key moments by a version of himself as a child, judging him, comforting him, calling him to account, to devastating emotional effect. Is it sentimental? Probably…. Does it make interesting, satisfying theatre though? Absolutely.

Adrian Lester is on thrilling, masterly form as the swaggering wordsmith but makes more explicit than usual the contrast between his heroism and bravado, and the deep insecurities borne of his unconventional physical appearance. He’s magnetic and deliciously funny, a wickedly accurate mimic, with a sly hint of high camp, but his humour and bluster are those of the outsider, somebody who feels he’s tolerated by his peers rather than fully accepted. His aggression, physical and verbal, feel like elaborate acts of self-sabotage, but when he talks about his beloved Roxane his tenderness and erudition take the breath away. He also projects an intriguing self-disgust tempered with a sense of profound intoxication as he makes the irresistible words with which young soldier Christian woos an increasingly besotted Roxane. It’s a stupendously fine, satisfying performance.

Susannah Fielding is a revelatory Roxane. In lesser interpretations, she can come across as a sappy, malleable heroine, but here she is feisty, lusty, smart….a wholly entrancing force to be reckoned with. She plays elegantly at being the demure society princess but gets scrappy and fierce at the drop of a hat, and is very much still the child bride plucked from working in the fields by her wealthy first husband. You fall in love with her but you wouldn’t mess with her. Her multiple conflicted feelings at the play’s conclusion when she realises to what extent she has been deceived are conveyed with startling psychological truth.

Levi Brown is an unusually heartbreaking Christian. He’s less the clueless romantic male beauty of convention but an uncynical, impulsive good guy, stronger in spirit and instinct than in intellect, with a strong Black Country accent. He is tied more to the land than to learning (his repeated verbal motif about hands in the soil is turned tragically back on to him at his demise), and is an unwitting pawn in a game played by smarter humans. His death has never moved me as much as it does in this version.

Every supporting performance, from Christian Patterson as jolly but sensitive baker Ragueneau through Scott Handy as the uptight army captain whose unsuccessful suitoring of Roxanne moves from spite to steadfast friendship as the years roll by, to the sextet of musicians who follow Cyrano everywhere -each one a distinct character- is rich in detail and humanity. Greer Dale-Foulkes is a quirky delight as Roxane’s funny, flirty confidante with the serious hots for Philip Cumbus’ gruff, kind military comrade to Cyrano.

The autumnal ending sears the soul, as Cyrano, the man who commands language like his own personal battalion, is deserted by them and begins spouting unintelligible verbiage as his younger self leads him to oblivion. Good luck with getting out of your head the look in Fielding’s Roxane’s eyes as the true extent of what she’s losing becomes clear to her. A particularly striking touch is that the steadily falling leaves from above become fragments of the letters Cyrano has been showering Roxane with under Christian’s alias. It’s just one gorgeous detail in a production overflowing with them. 

Other things to rave about include Joshie Harriette’s evocative lighting which takes in the whole house, not just the stage, Bethan Clark’s fight direction and composer Alex Baranowski’s outstanding musical contributions. I’m aware that this review is beginning to sound like a ham-fisted equivalent to the love letters showered upon Roxane, so I’m just going to wind it up by saying, please go and see Cyrano de Bergerac. It’ll fill your heart before breaking it. I ugly-cried, you might too. Unforgettable and unmissable.