A piece that used eloquent dialogue and immersive acting to create the most thought provoking theatre I have ever witnessed.

James McAvoy plays the lead role in this modern re-adaptation of the classic play. We watched the performance through National Theatre Live on the 20th of February. This production uses spoken word fantastically to tell the story of a poet and soldier who attempts make his soul mate fall in love with him through her husband. In the first scene, the audience is introduced to a minimalist set which we see repeated throughout the entirety of the performance. We see a row of a dozen or so actors, all varying in age, gender and size. With no prerecorded audio, the actors are required to create music that accompanies each scene. Slow beat boxing by other actors is the soundtrack for Le Bret, he uses a unique form of slam poetry to detail characteristics of the plays title character, Cyrano De Bergerac. The dialogue for this first piece of poetry is used to make the audience laugh and reveal aspects of the lead character that those, such as myself, who had no awareness of the play prior, an understanding of what to expect. Jamie Lloyd, the director, used aspects such as accent and costume to implement the modern adaptation of the play, which in turn connected further with audience members than a classic approach may have. With many characters such as Le Bret wearing a typical ‘road man’ tracksuit and brandishing a South London accent, the audience were left to investigate this clashing stereotype. Le Bret throughout, uses beautiful dialogue and poetry however most people, after seeing this character for the first time would expect unintelligent and aggressive language. This is one of the many ways the performance playfully challenges the audiences stereotypes of each character.

Roxane, the plays female protagonist, is perceived through image and narration to be delicate and quiet. We discover that through Anita-Joy Uwajeh’s fierce voice and powerful physicality’s that Roxane is an intellectual force not to be reckoned with. Roxane masterfully challenges the genius of Cyrano, Uwajeh’s performances of these moments ensures she is not over shadowed by the talent of James McAvoy through her beautiful and powerful adaptation of the ‘damsel in distress’. The rapport between Uwajeh and McAvoy, intensifies the emotional effect on audience members as it makes the heart break of Cyrano far more devastating. McAvoy’s furiosity as Cyrano ensures that the plays world, which lies between violence and spoken word, is clearly divided yet beautifully combined when appropriate. When Cyrano becomes aware of Christian, Roxane’s newly found crush, the humour is so elegantly extracted by all actors involved. We first witness the aggressive subtleties of Cyrano as he prepares to physically and verbally abuse Christian’s integrity. However, Cyrano becomes a victim of his love for Roxane. A lot of the humour found in the play utilises the simplicity of insults and pairs it with the seriousness of some situations. Cyrano’s signs of weakness to Roxanne are exposed beautifully as other characters tease and insult him after Christian insults Cyrano with no consequences, an unexpected response from the usually aggressive protagonist. The play ensure that audience members become emotionally attached to Christian, a young, charismatic man with a child like ignorance, compared to the intellectual superiority of both Roxane and Cyrano. This then leaves the audience in dispute over the morality of Cyrano’s use of Christian as a mouthpiece for his vivid romantic poetry. It is clear that the title character is far more suited to Roxane than that of Christian. The play is however quick to remind the audience that in no way is a women a man’s possession and therefore Cyrano’s intentions are questioned.

Despite a fantastic emotional attachment between the audience and the story, there were some aspects of the modern adaption of the traditional play which left confusion. As the play is set in a theatre in 1640, the use of mic stands and actors stood in a line was confusing at first however became more understandable as dialogue exposed the setting. I personally was left confused over the role of De Guiche as he seemed to be a powerful Count who demanded Roxane’s hand in marriage. However, his later role as General of Cyrano and Christian’s squad meant time was spent attempting to understand who De Guiche was, rather than focusing on his impact on the story. Regardless of these criticisms the play made it far too easy to ignore any confusion as the simplicity of the staging, lighting and sound left some moments of the play to be astonishing. As the story develops the impact of Cyrano’s use of Christian is furthered, before Cyrano had found a challenge in hiding the true identity of the author of the poems sent to Roxane. In the second half of the play, most male characters are sent to war, therefore in the first half there is more reliance on actual interaction with Roxane rather than letter’s which later aids Cyrano’s mission in the second half. Some parts of the real life deception of Roxane left for arguably the most amusing part of the whole play. Roxane ambushes Cyrano and Christian as they are discussing their next literary romance and expects similar intellectual literacy as found in previous letters. McAvoy displays his pure talent through his impressive use of accent, Cyrano is seen to imitate Christian’s voice as he expresses his love for Roxane while she is only in the other room.

The change in setting, to what seems to be a trench, in the second half changes the tempo. This change offers an opportunity for the performance to display its unique and charismatic characters. Cyrano’s masculine friends are a comedic break from the regularly intense story line. Emotion is high in every part of the play however is intensified due to the struggle of Christian and Cyrano while at war. The death of Christian and the reaction Roxane, showcased one of the most beautiful moments of acting I have personally ever witnessed. In silence, the spotlight magnifies the raw distraught of Roxane. The audience is left to witness her feelings through Uwajeh’s body language and facial expressions. The play then jumps forward in time to the moment in which Cyrano reveals the deception that Roxane had been exposed to. She is left to deal with the fact that the love for her late husband had been fueled not by the words and literature of another man. It is emotionally taxing watching a character you have learnt to love, within only a few hours, have her world destroyed. Cyrano’s guilt, and reflection has an equally strong impact as he has been perceived as this emotional force of intelligence, yet his ignorance and greed has led to the demise of the only person he ever truly loved.

Appreciation for the impressive talent of the actors, director and playwright was immense throughout all audience members and supports the fact performance was incredible.

5 out of 5

Written by Isaac Lewis