Romantic Cyrano goes back to basics

Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, translated and adapted
by Anthony Burgess, directed by Kathryn Shaw. A Richmond
‘Gateway/New Bastion co-production in association with Studio 58.
At the Gateway Theatre, 6500 Gilbert Rd., Richmond to May 1.

Res: 270-1812.

IKE CYRANO’S nase, there is much to admire in this
impressive-looking production at Richmond’s Gate-

way Theatre.
First performed in Paris in 1897,
Cyrano de Bergerac is a play that
_ connects directly to the 150 years
of French Romanticism that was
the impulse for much of the suc-
‘cess of melodrama on stage.

We tend to forget in these days
of cinematic saturation that
Hollywood invented neither the

-nine basic plots nor archetypal.
‘leads.

And you can‘t get much more
basic or archetypal thea’ Cyrano
and Roxane, the virgin widow...

What is truly wonderful is that it
works. Even if all of the elements
do not fall into place in this pro-

a duction.

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THEATRE REVIEW

Cyrano has Soved his cousin,
Roxane, from childhood, but fear-

ing rejection on account of his
ugliness he has never dared to say
so. ;
Circumstances require that he
woo Roxane on behalf of the
handsome but witless young
Christian. He is so successful that
Roxane marries Christian on the
spot to avoid the clammy hands of

‘Comte de Guiche.

Thwarted of the object of his
desire, de Guiche sends Cyrano
and Christian into battle to die.
From his lonely tent, Cyrano pours
his love for Roxane onto paper
with such daily ardor that she °
hastens to the battlefield to stand
by her man.

Christian discovers the truth of
Cyrano’s love for Roxane and
obliges by rushing off to die. But
even in death Cyrano preserves his
deception so that Roxane can
spend the next 15 years in a con-
vent cherishing the memory of her

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(almost) lover and husband.

Why does all this still work?

Cyrano is a people’s-choice
hero. Sure, he’s brave but he's ug-
ly and he knows it. He has no
respect for authority but he’s loyal.

Jay Brazeau plays Cyrano with
ease, grace and the requisite self-
awareness of all sad clowns.

His entrance lifted a rather timid

beginning of wallflower extras into

one of the best scenes of the play.
It culminates in the most convinc-
ing death by epee | have scen on
stage.

My problems began with
Brazeau’s wooing of Roxane (Lisa
Bunting).

1 never felt Cyrano’s personal
loss mounting as he wins Roxane’s
hand for Christian.

Bunting’s Roxane, on the other
hand, made sense of her difficult
part in the wooing scene. » |

But then her Roxane of the fifth

act convent, some 15 years older
and wiser, became a study in con-
tradictions; like many aspects of
the production, it seemed trapped
between the Romantic excesses of
Rastand and the colloquial idiom
of Anthony Burgess and director
Kathryn Shaw.-

Surprisingly, | enjoyed the pro-
duction. despite inconsistencies.

There are many fine players in-
volved, such as Duncan Fraser's
de Guiche, who manages the dif-
ficult task of foreshadowing his
own heroism with an intelligent
machismo.

Shaw’s control of pace is such
that | was never aware of the pro-
duction’s long three-hour running
time.

| just wish that this production,
had the courage to tilt with
panache at the windmill of

_ Romance, not romance.

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