Cyrano de Bergerac at Guildburys Picnic Theatre July 2023
‘A fun filled playful evening for everyone’ – ★★★★★ Janice Dempsey Essential Surrey review
ESSENTIAL SURREY REVIEW – READ IT IN FULL HERE
‘Paul Baverstock’s performance as Cyrano is brilliant: he electrifies the atmosphere with his boldness and his throwaway delivery of witty riposts.
The ensemble performances are very strong too. Richard Walter plays the Parisian pastrycook Ragueneau, jovial, larger than life and dispensing cakes to the down-at-heel poets who are Cyrano’s supporters and the motley group of Gascoigne Cadets. Amie Felton portrays Roxane as a giggly airhead craving flattery in poetry, and Neil James as Count Antoine bears an uncanny likeness to Jacob Rees-Mogg in the first half of the play — he relaxes into a more respectful equal of Cyrano in the second half — another memorable performance. This is a wonderful evening of theatre in the romantic woodland outside Merrist Wood House.
We laughed, we almost cried, and we learned — what more could we ask? Guildburys have again chosen and performed a play full of surprises, inventive direction and brilliant performances.’
TRICIA MARCOTTI – THE GUILDFORD DRAGON REVIEW – READ IT IN FULL HERE
One cannot talk about Cyrano without discussing “the nose”. It is a veritable beauty of a nose, worthy of a place of honour among noses! And Cyrano (Paul Baverstock) wears it well. Paul plays his character to the hilt (yes, swords are involved!), running the whole gamut of emotions throughout the play.
And Roxanne (Amie Felton) provides us with a coquette, a loving cousin, and a loving then grieving wife. Her performance shows that she understands what the character of Roxanne entails. Christian de Neuvillette was Roxanne’s love interest, and Gabi King shows us how he could be both a swashbuckling swordsman and a tongue-tied lover, needing Cyrano’s expertise in wooing “his Roxanne”. A number of the cast play multiple parts. The costumes have been designed to allow changes “on the fly”, so to speak. That is to say, some of the players are required to be both soldiers and nuns, and their costume changes are effected while they speak. I especially liked Cyrano’s swordfight with 100 soldiers. The way the director (Steffen Zschaler) set that up is genius.
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Production photography by Jonathan Constant. Copyright Guildburys Theatre Company
This amateur production of Cyrano de Bergerac is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French Ltd
