McAvoy has a nose for rap in fizz
Cyrano de Bergerac (Playhouse Theatre, London) Verdict: Best play I’ve seen all year ★★★★★
YOU will be glad to hear that there isn’t a great big comedy nose in Jamie Lloyd’s take on French writer Edmond Rostand’s 19th-century classic. Hollywood’s token Glaswegian, James McAvoy, has been spared.
Usually, all anyone knows of Cyrano, the champion fighter and sparkling romantic wit, is that he is also a grade-A minger with a huge hooter.
And yet, this noseless revival, adapted by Martin Crimp into modern, rap-inspired English verse, is the best play I’ve seen all year. Cyrano is ‘ugly and in love’. He’s an artistic genius besotted with his cousin Roxane. But she falls for a new recruit to Cyrano’s regiment, Christian — an artless ‘pretty boy’.
Cyrano ends up writing all of Christian’s love letters to Roxane, resulting in a messy, emotional triangle. The sexual chemistry on stage is ferociously good.
McAvoy is a fizzing ball of charisma. It’s a strong, witty and engaging cast, but he’s still the coolest figure on stage. The word ‘panache’ was coined for Cyrano, and McAvoy is panache to his fingertips.
Watching him fly into a rage is terrifying. Watching him weep, as his words are attributed to another man, is devastating.
He is well matched by the captivating Anita-Joy Uwajeh as Roxane. When she speaks, the reason for the fighting over her becomes clear. Christian (Eben Figueiredo) is a bright turn, too, with his bouncy swagger. And Tom Edden, as the prowling Comte de Guiche,