here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nCyrano de Bergerac at the Shaw Festival is a remount of the highly regarded 2019 production. When I went back and read the review I wrote then (which is readily available via search on this website), I could just write \u201cDitto\u201d for 2022. Yes, it would be the shortest critique in history, but I do feel, generally, the same way about the production as I did in 2019.<\/p>\n
I do, in fact, love most of it, and would happily send my friends and relations to see this remount. What I don\u2019t like about it, however, I really, really don\u2019t like, and while this aspect blights the production a tad, it\u2019s a blip on the landscape in regard to what\u2019s good about the theatre experience as a whole.<\/p>\n
What follows is a short commentary on the good, the bad and the ugly of this Cyrano<\/em> (albeit, mostly good).<\/p>\nThe gutsy thing of setting the production in the tiny Royal George Theatre still works, and director Chris Abraham uses the whole theatre \u2014 the side aisles and the back \u2014 in a sort of surround sound. This remount seemed more chaotic and noisy than I remember, but that just adds vitality to the mix.<\/p>\n
Kate Hennig\u2019s adapted script still works marvellously well. She dumped the alexandrine rhyming couplets for colloquial prose that is smart and sassy.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know how it\u2019s possible, but Tom Rooney\u2019s Cyrano has grown in character portrayal, which means the actor has gone beyond perfection. In fact, so nuanced is his performance that Cyrano actually started to irritate me \u2014 his self-victimization \u2014 and that\u2019s never happened before in any production I\u2019ve seen. Now that\u2019s acting!<\/p>\n
The gender-bending cast of 14 actors has just three changes from 2019 (which says something about the staying power of the Shaw ensemble). The biggest switch is Nafeesa Monroe as Le Bret instead of Tanya Jacobs. She may be a tad young, but she does a lively job, as do Katherine Gauthier in her four roles, and Marie Mahaba with her two.<\/p>\n
Julie Fox\u2019s two-tiered set and period costumes are still a marvel, as is Kimberly Purtell\u2019s gorgeous misty lighting. Thomas Ryder Payne (who seems to be everywhere these days) has compiled a cinematic score of original music and sound design that fits the narrative like hand to glove. In other words, the theatrical values are first-rate.<\/p>\n
I still love Sharry Flett\u2019s droll and ironic take as Roxanne\u2019s companion. Kyle Blair\u2019s Ragueneau is still sweet, Jeff Irving\u2019s Christian seems to have a more manly bite, while Patrick Galligan as De Guiche is still one nasty sardonic bastard. I would say all of these characters are more defined this time round.<\/p>\n
And alas, we come to Roxanne, and I still think that Deborah Hay is woefully miscast. She is a strong actress on stage (and I\u2019ve loved her past performances at both Shaw and Stratford), so her breathless pr\u00e9cieuse seems both too old and too fake. She\u2019s acting at and not acting from, and it just doesn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n
Finally, if you didn\u2019t catch this production in 2019, now\u2019s the time. If you did see it then, it deserves a second visit, for no better reason than Tom Rooney\u2019s brilliant Cyrano. He is unforgettable.<\/p>\n
![\"Cyrano](\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Cyrano-de-Bergerac-REVIEW.jpg\")
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