Play review – “Cyrano de Bergerac” by Edmond Rostand

Why isn’t this play revived more in English-speaking Western countries? It’s got name recognition, a terrific story, a wonderful lead part – better this than another Shakespeare. Maybe it’s too expensive to produce. I was surprised reading it how faithful the film Roxanne was to it (at least up until the "writing lots of letters" moment) – the “making lots of jokes about the nose” scene is straight from the play, as is the wooing scene and Cyrano mistakenly thinking Roxanne likes him for a time. Some things Roxanne was superior, to be honest – Roxanne in the play is a bit shallow and overly keen on male beauty (Daryl Hannah was nicer), and Christian in this play is a real prick (when he first meets Cyrano he teases him). However, this play has a stronger ending – plenty of powerful dramatic scenes as Roxanne arrives at the battle field, Christian carks it, Roxanne goes into a convent, years pass, she finds out the truth… oh, its powerful, tragic stuff. But there is humour, too – plus the threat of a nasty person who wants to marry Roxanne.