BWW Reviews: Ode to a Nose CYRANO

Ask the average guy on the street about "Cyrano de Bergerac," and he might guess Shakespeare (no, the 1897 play was written by Edmond Rostand) but would likely say, "Guy with the big nose, right?"

Right.

Of course, there was a lot more to Cyrano than meets the nose, er, eye, as Rostand's play helped explore the nature of true love. Is it only skin deep? Or is love blind to the surface so long as the soul can be clearly seen and embraced?

Baltimore's Center Stage explored this question and more before a packed house as part of the theater's "Short Work" series, fully produced plays that run between 60-90 minutes.  This trimmed down version of Rostand's work featured only three actors playing multiple roles, as well as providing their own sound effects, from hooting owls to roiling thunder.

As one has come to expect with a Center Stage production, there is a wonderful use of creativity, making "more with less." For example, the illusion of a huge, spreading chestnut tree, complete with overhanging branches and trunk is created through a clever use of lights. Cyrano (Manu Narayan) and French nobleman Comte de Guiche (played comically by Luke Robertson with an Inspector Clouseau-style accent and one hand perpetually in the air like a waiter holding a serving tray) duel using only blades of the imagination as Roxane (Sarah Grace Wilson) clashes rapiers together backstage to mimic the sound of swordplay.

The play begins with each character taking turns putting on the false nose, plucked from the end of a banana placed in a bowl of fruit in the center of the stage, Is this to symbolize that all of us are Cyrano in some sense, that is, that we each have some aspect of ourselves that we question or wish we might change? Or is it just a bit of whimsy, to say, see how silly this is, how we make so much of superficial things?

The costumes are simple, though it is interesting that Cyrano's attire is the most colorful, with striped shirt, purple jacket, brocaded vest, blue jeans and brown boots while Robertson as Christian is all in white. Perhaps this represents how Roxane sees him as a "white knight" or perhaps it is because, compared to Cyrano, Christian is rather bland. He lacks Cyrano's eloquence and it is for this reason that Cyrano becomes his voice in wooing Roxane.

As sad a tale as "Cyrano" is--how a man spends years of his life suffering unrequited love, never knowing its fulfillment--this adaptation by Jo Roets, translated to English by Audrey Van Tuyckom and directed by David Schweizer is more comic than tragic. Whenever the foppish Comte de Guiche appears on stage, kerchief high in the air, Narayan provides for him backstage his own soundtrack of gutteral "French" rumblings and assorted "oh yeah, oh yeahs" as de Guiche professes his desire for Roxane.

Still, the play has it's touching moments, particularly in the fifth and final act as Cyrano, struck from above by a falling beam (as actually did occur to the real-life Cyrano in 1654), visits his beloved Roxane for the last time. Even at his death, he continues to deny that it was indeed his words, not Christian's, that won over Roxane--for Cyrano, honor trumps all, even love. It's a message that modern audiences in today's overly narcissistic society, might take to heart, lest the ideals of self-sacrifice and trust, like Cyrano, become the stuff of history.

"Cyrano" continues its run at Center Stage's Head Theater, 700 North Calvert Street, now through Sunday, Feb. 7^th. Tickets are $10-$35 and are available at www.centerstage.org or by calling 410-332-0033.

 

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