Cyrano de Bergerac

4
Reviewer's Rating

The masterpiece Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand was written in 1897 and inspired by the thrilling and dissolute life of the libertine French writer Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac.

The title role Cyrano (marvellously performed by Itay Tiran, who performs the polished script – almost 1600 lines of poetry in Alexandrines – by investing it with the humour, poetry and pathos Edmond Rostand originally intended) is a soldier, poet, and fierce duellist, who secretly loves his beautiful cousin Roxane but fears to declare to her his true love because of the ugliness of his enormous nose. As for her, she is in love with the handsome Baron Christian de Neuvillette (Ido Rozenberg) who loves her as well but lacks the intelligence and verve to express his love well. Cyrano, who promised Roxane to protect Christian since they belong to the same regiment, offers to help him woo Roxane by writing the poetic love letters that she thinks Christian has written, and whose beautiful words deeply pierce her heart.

Staging this masterpiece presented the theatre director Gilad Kimchi with an incredible and very risky challenge.  The play includes hundreds of characters, many different settings and numerous actions, in particular a spectacular battle scene. Moreover the original text in French is extremely polished, intelligent, and humorous. Dori Parnes’s excellent translation of the play into Hebrew brilliantly conveys rhymes and rhythm teasing out humour and maintain form. The excellent cast, superbly directed by Gilad Kimchi, uniformly transmits the play’s challenging themes.The audience greatly enjoy the variety of performances, which include acting, singing, and a tap dance among other dances, as well as the very original staging.

Since its first creation, many directors have adapted Cyrano in both cinema and theatre. The memorable performance of Gérard Depardieu in the film of the French director Jean-Paul Rappeneau remains a model. But Gilad Kimchi has achieved an incredibly original rendition of his own, which goes beyond all expectations.

Those more sensitive to the classical aspect of the masterpiece might be surprise by the extremely innovative staging. But they will enjoy experiencing this well-known play in a way never seen before. And the themes of love, courage, and heroism are perfectly expressed by all of the talented actors.

The world-famous character Cyrano can influence people’s minds since the play delivers genuine lessons about life. And obviously Gilad Kimchi and his gifted actors achieve their mission of making people laugh and even cry; no spectator can remain indifferent to the power of this rendition. And spectators may even find that they have learned from this performance to behave courageously and without fear of expressing the deep feelings that are inside every human being.

Surtitles in English/French/Russian  are available on certain evenings.