Cyrano, Edinburgh Fringe Theatre review - 'a sizzling and hilarious 21st century comedy'

Virginia Gay in Cyrano | Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic

Cyrano

Traverse Theatre (Venue 15)

★★★★☆

In a year when many Fringe-goers are seeking a little joy and light relief - but don’t want to sit around laughing raucously at situations which are really both desperate and tragic - Virginia Gay’s gorgeous gender-flipped version of Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac, first seen in Australia in 2022, offers a damn near perfect night out at the theatre.  

On one hand, it partakes in the most joyous way possible in the depth and romanticism of Rostand’s original story, which celebrates the unhappy hero’s passionate love for his lady Roxanne – and her reciprocal if unrecognised love for him – with a power and poetry that is instantly recognisable to every soul that has ever loved, and goes far beyond the usual platitudes of romantic comedy. 

And on the other, it also rewrites that story for our time with a completely beguiling combination of absolute respect, blistering wit, and real interrogation, as Gay herself plays a female Cyrano who fights better than the men, but who feels excluded from Roxanne’s affection both by her famously huge nose – although the nose here is purely imaginary – and by her gender, as Roxanne expresses a strong heterosexual desire for the handsome but dim-witted soldier Christian.  

The play that emerges from this bold approach is a sizzling and hilarious 21st century comedy about human yearnings, aspirations and absurdities, as Gay elaborates on Rostand’s meta-theatrical opening scene by creating a chorus of three thespians – an ageing actor, a sensible tradition-bearer, and a hapless dogsbody – who appear throughout the play, and are increasingly drawn into the action. Gay’s Cyrano is irresistible, charismatic and heartbreaking, and fully matched by Jessica Whitehurst’s gorgeous and clever Roxanne; and the final well-argued refusal of Rostand’s long-drawn-out and famously lugubrious ending is just the rousing call to arms a 2024 Fringe audience needs to send them off laughing and foot-tapping into the night.               

until 25 August

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