Yep it was that time of year again.
It's been one year since i performed a three night show of Wuthering Heights and it has now been a week since i performed a three night show of Cyrano De Bergerac- the incredibly famous french play about the 'ugly' poet with a very large nose.
I've never done a proper tragic- comedy and i'll be honest with you, i was very apprehensive. The show is based around Cyrano. The other protagonists being Roxanne, Christian, De Guiche and Le Bret. The rest of the cast, which is a grand size of 12, is made up of six females who multi-role the rest of the parts. I was a multi-roler and therefore had five different parts to play, all with incredibly different characteristics but a challenge is always nice once in a while, so i thew myself into it.
Sister Agnes (one of the nuns who tell the story), Poet, Priest and Sentinel.
- Sister Agnes = a very stern lady who does not approve of the story telling that is about to take place.
- Poet = an incredibly comedic, male character who just wants to please his one and only idol- Cyrano.
- Priest = a funny man trying to stay serious and get on with his job, until Cyrano starts 'suggesting' things with his sword.
- Sentinel = (my favourite out of the four) an incredibly comedic man who hates being on watch duty and tends to reminisce about his school days whenever he can, forgetting to watch for the enemy lines every now and again.
The basic plot is that Cyrano is in love with Roxanne but because of his huge nose he doesn't believe that he'll ever be able to win her over. Roxanne, falls in love with the handsome but illiterate Christian. Cyrano being the good guy he is, offers to write letters to Roxanne, pretending to be Christian; Roxanne appreciates poetry more than anyone ever can. Roxanne soon falls deeply in love with Christian's 'words'. Then, war breaks out so Christian and Cyrano go off to fight- Roxanne is left in despair and, in a flurry of madness wanders through the battle fields to find them. When she finally reaches the camp her beloved Christian has been shot and dies in her arms, holding his last fake letter that she will ever read. 15 years pass and Roxanne and Cyrano meet again- Cyrano has been injured and has a serious head wound- this is when Roxanne learns that Cyrano wrote the letters all along- Roxanne realises that she was in love with Cyrano the whole time but it's too late, her second love also dies in her arms and the play closes.
I'm well aware that the plot description that i wrote doesn't necessarily lend itself to that much humour so you'll just have to trust me on that- it is a comedic tragedy, i promise!
I can't describe how much of an amazing experience it has been to be involved in such an amazing show. The cast became like a little family, as it always does and it was so nice to be able to experience that unforgetable feeling of walking on stage and performing to sold out audience again.
For some people involved this was there last show. These are the people who i've been performing with since the age of 6, the end of an era is definitely looming but i suppose that can only mean that a new one is starting.
So as usual, i have some show photos that i would like to share with you.
See you next week, if not before.
The small islander x
