I am perfectly comfortable saying this is the second best play I have ever seen. The words are strong on their own, but having seen the actors bring them to life raises it to the highest level of entertainment, joy, and heartbreak. It has not left me so I had to have the script and now I've read it twice. I saw the National Theater Live production starring James McAvoy as Cyrano on at the Circle Cinema here in Tulsa. If you love words even half as much as Cyrano, you will not be disappointed. The result is breathtakingly beautiful, even as the story breaks your heart. There are shades of Hamilton in the style Crimp's verse shows the same linguistic virtuosity as any one of Miranda's songs, but then manages to keep it going for five acts without stopping. Yet, the way the story is told abandons any verisimilitude to the styles of that era by using todays language woven into verse. Cyrano is still a soldier in 17th century France, desperately in love with his cousin Roxane, and unable to tell her except through the guise of the handsome young man she fell for at first sight. Crimp, instead, created a "free adaptation": the plot is mostly faithful to the original, but there is no attempt at direct translation.
However, heretofore, the most popular English translations have provided the substance but not the style of the original. Seeing it was hypnotic, but reading it was a balm for my soul.Ĭyrano de Bergerac was written in French verse by Edmond Rostand in the 19th century.
I needed to submerse myself in the cornucopia of wit and rhyme that Martin Crimp managed to create. So much so, that I could not rest until I got hands on the play itself. I was lucky enough to see James McAvoy's performance in February and was absolutely blown away. This might be my favorite play of all time. "I need their hate/ let them stare- let them spit with rage- I can't wait/ for the next fight/ no way will I kowtow and be polite/ try and make me/ conform try and break me/I warn you no one will take me/ prisoner of their patronage/ VIP sponsorship whatever the fashion is/ I will remain outside of it/ will not stain any part of my mind with it/ I will sing my own tune/ cling to the dark side of my own moon/ sooner than bask in the false bright/ earth-light"
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