Colm Feore plays Cyrano de Bergerac
Cyrano was great. I enjoyed seeing Colm Feore play him. He looks great with long hair! And he's such a talented actor! But I knew that already. :)
There's an interview with Colm Feore and his wife Donna Feore, who directed the play, at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival's Youtube Channel. (Here are the links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.) There's also a video of a few minutes of the production, the part near the beginning where Cyrano composes a poem while fighting a duel. He even names all of the rhymes ahead of time, before the clip begins.
Some of my impressions of the play:
It surprised me what a jerk Cyrano was at the beginning. He threatens an actor with death if he continues on the stage. Later, we learn he did it for love, but it's still kind of a mean thing to do.
The scene at the end was quite memorable. The leaves drifting down on the stage, Cyrano looking up, Roxanne working on her tapestry. Then the speech he makes where he names his old enemies, and he's like "Aww, stupidity, you got me in the end." And then when he says they can never take away his panache, and falls forward. So romantic. Tears were streaming down my face at the end. It was very moving.
I have a friend whose favourite character is the pastry chef who loves poetry so much that he's willing to be paid in poems. She also says that the play is best experienced read aloud in the original French, because the entire thing is in verse. This presents problems for translation, but her favourite is the Anthony Burgess version, which is what we saw, and what the Royal Shakespeare Company in Britain also uses.
I thought it was interesting at the beginning how offhand Cyrano was, when he was making remarks about all the insults one could heap upon his nose. It's like they just tripped off his tongue, off the top of his head. It was like a stream of them, a shower, a plentitude that flowed with ease. The previous time I saw Colm Feore play Cyrano, years ago, I think he paused more for each one, and made more of it. This was a different approach.
Christian seemed to be fed up with the whole thing by the end. I especially liked how he did his speech about how he was pretty and dumb, and wanted to be loved for himself, or not at all. He really meant it. Roxanne came across as sincere, and worthy of Cyrano's love and affection. Cyrano came across like he was almost going to tell her, but couldn't quite bring himself to do it. There were a few times where he metaphorically stepped back when he could have stepped forward.
The balcony scene was hilarious, and heartwrenching. The war scenes were lively, and everyone was so excited when they got the food. I thought all of the actors did a good job.
At the very beginning it was a bit hard to follow what everyone was saying and what was happening in the crowd scene, but I was soon drawn into it.
All in all, a great performance, and if you get the chance to go see it, do so. Scratch that. Make the chance to go see it. It's worth it.
There's an interview with Colm Feore and his wife Donna Feore, who directed the play, at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival's Youtube Channel. (Here are the links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.) There's also a video of a few minutes of the production, the part near the beginning where Cyrano composes a poem while fighting a duel. He even names all of the rhymes ahead of time, before the clip begins.
Some of my impressions of the play:
It surprised me what a jerk Cyrano was at the beginning. He threatens an actor with death if he continues on the stage. Later, we learn he did it for love, but it's still kind of a mean thing to do.
The scene at the end was quite memorable. The leaves drifting down on the stage, Cyrano looking up, Roxanne working on her tapestry. Then the speech he makes where he names his old enemies, and he's like "Aww, stupidity, you got me in the end." And then when he says they can never take away his panache, and falls forward. So romantic. Tears were streaming down my face at the end. It was very moving.
I have a friend whose favourite character is the pastry chef who loves poetry so much that he's willing to be paid in poems. She also says that the play is best experienced read aloud in the original French, because the entire thing is in verse. This presents problems for translation, but her favourite is the Anthony Burgess version, which is what we saw, and what the Royal Shakespeare Company in Britain also uses.
I thought it was interesting at the beginning how offhand Cyrano was, when he was making remarks about all the insults one could heap upon his nose. It's like they just tripped off his tongue, off the top of his head. It was like a stream of them, a shower, a plentitude that flowed with ease. The previous time I saw Colm Feore play Cyrano, years ago, I think he paused more for each one, and made more of it. This was a different approach.
Christian seemed to be fed up with the whole thing by the end. I especially liked how he did his speech about how he was pretty and dumb, and wanted to be loved for himself, or not at all. He really meant it. Roxanne came across as sincere, and worthy of Cyrano's love and affection. Cyrano came across like he was almost going to tell her, but couldn't quite bring himself to do it. There were a few times where he metaphorically stepped back when he could have stepped forward.
The balcony scene was hilarious, and heartwrenching. The war scenes were lively, and everyone was so excited when they got the food. I thought all of the actors did a good job.
At the very beginning it was a bit hard to follow what everyone was saying and what was happening in the crowd scene, but I was soon drawn into it.
All in all, a great performance, and if you get the chance to go see it, do so. Scratch that. Make the chance to go see it. It's worth it.