Cyrano de Bergerac
A fun-filled, playful evening for everyone
Address: Merrist Wood, Guildford, GU3 3PE. Get directions.
Our verdict
Jonathan Constant
Most people have heard of Cyrano de Bergerac, the 17th Century character who was known for his enormous nose, but I for one didn’t realise that he was a real person, not a character from romantic fiction.
For their Picnic Theatre in Merrist Wood this year, Guildburys has chosen to enact a story of unrequited, unselfish love, bravery, legendary swordsmanship and literary talent that was written about him by Edmond Rostand 150 years later — and what a tour de force they’ve made of it!
We fall in love with Cyrano as he quips his way through the hypocrisies of church and state, fights a hundred duels simultaneously, and answers with cutting wit the taunts and cruel jokes his rivals make about his enormous nose.
Despite his less-than-romantic appearance, he writes his way into the arms of his childhood love. He dies, aged only thirty-six, by an unknown hand.
The historic Cyrano was a poet, playwright, satirist, and outspoken critic of the church and the aristocracy who made many enemies. He fought in the French army in the Siege of Arras in 1640.
Glyn Maxwell, himself a poet, has adapted Rostand’s play to emphasise the literary element in the real Cyrano’s life, and we chuckled at the many jokes he includes about the status of the poet in society, then and today.
Jonathan Constant
Duelling with words and swords, Cyrano withstands all criticism of his looks but yearns to be loved by Roxane, his cousin, who loves a more handsome, rather inarticulate soldier, Christian (Gabi King).
To help them both and protect her from Count Antoine de Guiche, the (initially at least) dastardly aristocrat claiming droit de seigneur from Roxane, Cyrano writes poems for Christian to enable him to woo Roxanne, but when he tries to teach his friend to write poetry himself, the results are hilarious.
Paul Baverstock’s performance as Cyrano is brilliant: he electrifies the atmosphere with his boldness and his throwaway delivery of witty riposts.
The ensemble performances are very strong too.
Richard Walter plays the Parisian pastrycook Ragueneau, jovial, larger than life and dispensing cakes to the down-at-heel poets who are Cyrano’s supporters and the motley group of Gascoigne Cadets.
Amie Felton portrays Roxane as a giggly airhead craving flattery in poetry, and Neil James as Count Antoine bears an uncanny likeness to Jacob Rees-Mogg in the first half of the play — he relaxes into a more respectful equal of Cyrano in the second half — another memorable performance.
This is a wonderful evening of theatre in the romantic woodland outside Merrist Wood House.
We laughed, we almost cried, and we learned — what more could we ask? Guildburys have again chosen and performed a play full of surprises, inventive direction and brilliant performances.