Cyrano Cover.indd - Stratford Festival

Ideas and InsightsArcelorMittal applauds the artists, artisans and staff behind everyoutstanding experience at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.A Uniquely Beautiful RomanceDespite the action, the comedy and the epic scale ofthe piece, Cyrano de Bergerac is above all a romance,and that is something that attracted me to this play.I feel that now is the ideal time for a play like this,which sparks the imagination and transports usto a more heroic age. The language has a uniquebeauty, and it has been a pleasure for all involved toembrace the spoken word with relish.The idea of the outsider is something thatresonates with artists, who by nature are often apartfrom the community at large. Cyrano, because of hisown emotional and physical characteristics, is set apart;we feel his pain while marvelling at his wit and daring.What interests me about Rostand as a playwrightis that he wasn’t interested in following the trends ofhis time but listened instead to his own artistic pulse.Writing in 1897, he didn’t shy away from creating anepic romance about the 17th century, thus flying inthe face of the genres that were popular in his time.He embraced sentiment, romance and emotion withhumour and skill, while at the same time honouringthe writing traditions of the past.It has been a great asset to have the originalFrench version at our fingertips during the planningand rehearsal stages. It has been fascinating to seethat Rostand, the poet, is at times more economicaland prosaic than Anthony Burgess, the translator.However, Burgess has been able to capture thebeauty of the original French in a way that fewhave been able to do in the past. This production isunique, as far as I know, in that we’ve kept severalpassages in French, thus allowing our audiences tohear Rostand in his original voice.Donna FeoreDirectorCOSTUME SKETCHES BY SANTO LOQUASTO6