Cyrano de Bergerac reviews round-up at the RSC starring Adrian Lester

"Adrian Lester is perfect in this huge-hearted show"

"Why is this RSC reinvention of Edmond Rostand’s much-revived 1897 play so unusually enchanting? Even after its constantly entertaining almost three hours are up, you can have fun poring over the prose, poetry and performances you have just seen to figure out what casts the greatest spell."

"As the war hero and love coward with the big nose, the actor has never been better than in this finely judged RSC adaptation"

"Playful, poignant, profound, perfectly pitched"

"Simon Evans’ RSC production at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon is both mischievous and moving"

"Evans’ production tumbles across the stage, filling the RSC’s Swan Theatre with life, delighting in the opportunities for mischievous humour in the famous romantic comedy"

"Adrian Lester revels in swordplay and wordplay as Cyrano de Bergerac"

"Around him swirls a super ensemble full of deft, thoughtful performances. "

"Grace Smart’s evocative design uses the lightest of touches to summon both the physical and emotional landscape of the piece"

"The show’s greatest weapon is the translation by Evans and poet Debris Stevenson. Pliable and precise, with different styles, rhythms and metres for individual characters, it celebrates the subtlety and power of language — our currency, our solace, our armour — but also recognises its limits"

"Just wonderful"

"Adrian Lester is a fiery, magnetic Cyrano"

"Adrian Lester’s passionate performance empowers a bold adaptation of Rostand’s romantic tragedy"

"Evans stages it with ferocious energy, bounding through the plot in a whirl of sharply choreographed sword fights, perfectly pitched comedy and heartfelt moments full of defiance, camaraderie or bittersweet yearning."

"Adrian Lester is a fiery, flamboyant, magnetic presence as Cyrano"
"Susannah Fielding’s Roxane has an instantly charming, unforced grace, wearing her heart on her sleeve yet luxuriating in wordplay, banter and flirtation. "
"[Levi] Brown neatly captures the casual self-absorption of youth, roping in Cyrano to help fulfil his seductions, while completely oblivious to his mentor’s pain."

"Adrian Lester brings sublime soul to roistering romance"

"The giant-hootered lover ventriloquising his passion for Roxane through a physically dashing rival is the standout star of this warm and likable revival"

"Jamie Lloyd’s rap-battling version of Edmond Rostand’s romance showed us just what a modern-day adaptation could be with its sleekly devastating originality. Simon Evans and Debris Stevenson do not try to emulate the radical genius of that show in their adaptation. The genius here is in honouring the old rather than radical reinvention."

"Its biggest highlight is Adrian Lester’s Cyrano, who gives this production its sublimely wounded soul."

"There is plenty of musketeer-style sword-play and entertaining humour, all the bolder and fresher in modern language, while Grace Smart’s set mixes 17th-century elements with a timeless expressionism. "

"HEADLINE"

"Lester holds court as a wordsmith, sword fights like a matinee idol and even cartwheels in this must-see production"

"Each character has their own speaking style: whether that be monosyllabic Christian, Roxane breaking lines as her thoughts fly, or Cyrano’s rhymes shifting to map his mood"
"All this variation fights against any mechanical quality. But equally, it can diminish the joy that comes with flaunted artifice and our delight when the right word lands. Some of the lines manage to sound at once simple and abstruse."

"Lester’s performance underlines Cyrano’s insecurity about his nose but adds a more profound, universal sense of fear about declaring his feelings."

"It’s not perfect. But, played confidently across the board, and bolstered to the hilt by Lester’s presence, it’s another RSC must-see – by a nose"