CYRANO DE BERGERAC
by Edmond Rostand
Translation by Brian Hooker
Directed by John Barrett
AUDITIONS: Auditions will be held at Beatrice Herford’s Vokes Theatre, Route 20, Wayland, MA and are by appointment
Sunday, May 17 6:30-9pm
Monday, May 18 7:00-9:30pm
Other times available by arrangement
Please prepare a 1-2 minute monologue – The monologue can be serious or comic, modern or classic, but ideally should demonstrate deftness with the intricacy of language present in the play. To schedule an appointment, please call 508-358-2011 and leave your name, phone, and preferred audition time. We will call you back.
REHEARSALS BEGIN: after Memorial Day
PERFORMANCES: July 23 through August 8 Thursday – Saturday Evenings. Matinees Saturday, August 1 & 8
Play Summary: Cyrano de Bergerac is what live theater is all about: beautiful costumes from the era of The Three Musketeers, a balcony scene that puts Romeo and Juliet to shame, romantic lines that resonate in the ear and echo in the heart, the bustle and swirl of the night life of Paris at its height, and the best sword fight ever mounted on any stage. Cyrano himself is a gigantic character – poet, lover, soldier, and the deadliest swordsman alive, with a passion almost too great for the stage to contain. The lovely Roxanne is a woman that men would kill – or die – for. Their story has thrilled and moved audiences around the world. It is an epic tale, ranging from the intimate shadows of Paris to the blazing battleground of Arras, a story full of musketeers and barons, orange wenches and ladies, grand battles and personal duels, intrigue, double-dealing, and above all else – romance.
CAST
This is a huge cast of characters, probably close to a hundred, which will obviously require doubling (tripling, sextupling). Expect to cast about 15-18 people who will enjoy playing a multitude of roles. There will be roles for all kinds of types and ages, of both genders. One of the most interesting aspects of the play, from the point of view of the actors, is that most of the major characters seem, at first, to be rather two-dimensional, but as the play proceeds, they are each revealed to possess much greater depth than first appeared. In terms of character development, the play is an ongoing experience of discovery for both cast and audience.
Some descriptions of the principal roles follow.
- Cyrano de Bergerac: Poet, soldier, the deadliest swordsman in France – an incurable romantic cursed with the face of an ogre – noble courageous – a titanic figure – fearless and yet vulnerable, one of the stage’s greatest figures
- Christian de Neuvillette: A noble and intelligent man with no gift for poetry – Cyrano’s reverse doppelganger, a beautiful exterior without the romantic gift – by no means a dunce – is revealed to be unexpectedly self-sacrificing
- The Comte de Guiche: Older, rich and powerful, desires Roxane, unscrupulous in his pursuit, not without his own sense of honor, and courage
- Le Bret: Cyrano’s friend and closest confidant – a gruff, honest soldier
- Ligniere: Cyrano’s friend – a drunken poet with a tendency to anger the powerful
- Rageneau: A would-be poet and pastry cook, later Roxanne’s porter – loyal side-kick role, some comic possibilities
- The Vicomte de Valvert: Self-important aristocrat, killed by Cyrano in an epic duel –experience in stage combat a plus.
- Montfleury: Over-weight ham actor, comic role
- Roxane: Beautiful, romantic, unfailingly loyal, although pursued by many men, not at all a coquette – a truly noble woman
- Roxane’s duenna: Fussy, protective – comic role – should be a little overweight
- The Orange Girl: One lovely little scene with Cyrano – she sees beyond his enormous nose to his poetic soul, which (briefly) gives him hope
- Lise: Rageneau’s tart-tongued wife, carrying on an affair with a musketeer
- Sister Claire & Sister Marguerite: Two young nuns whom Cyrano likes to tease
& many, many more
