2023-12-27 20:22:11
This is a task that is a challenge: reinterpreting Cyrano de Bergerac, a monument of the French theatrical repertoire, without falling into déjà vu or being too extravagant. If the play has been performed more than a thousand times within the walls of the Richelieu hall of the Comédie-Française, only four directors took part in the exercise for the institution. Since December 8, Emmanuel Daumas has extended the list with a kitsch proposal that has caused a lot of ink to flow.
The staging is daring! The curtain rises to reveal an extravagant setting, straight from the imagination of director and illusionist Georges Méliès, a contemporary of Edmond Rostand. If the cardboard decorations and the frills are surprising at first glance, the spectators quickly understand their meaning: it is all of Cyrano’s heroic flamboyance that we wanted to show in these golden curtains, all of his panache and his eloquence that we shows off in these ribbons and lace.
This first scene turns out to be very entertaining, like Ragueneau’s singing clerks or the incredible entrance of Laurent Lafitte, convincing in the title role, arriving on stage via a zip line attached to one of the theater’s balconies. He comes to correct the actor Montfleury disguised as a peacock, ridiculous and hilarious when he screams his verses like a bird in agony.
Only one actress on stage
Another curiosity: Roxanne (Jennifer Decker) is the only actress on stage, all the female characters being played by men. The reason for this choice is not very explicit but the comedy is accentuated. Jordan Rezgui for example, who plays no less than seven different characters, male and female, is constantly dressing and undressing to move from one character to another.
But the burlesque ends when the war brings the Gascon and the cadets back to cold reality. The decor then becomes much more sober, darker too. Ingenious metal bunk beds define the play space on the misty front. For the convent, all that is needed are two white walls falling into ruin, a small cardboard tree and a clever play of lights.
Missing a spark
However, the dramatic aspect of the play lacks intensity. The particular phrasing of Roxanne, a potential dramatic character, is no longer appropriate when the action becomes serious. The famous balcony scene, here full of sensuality with Roxanne falling into a swoon, did not completely win the public’s support. But the death of her husband in the war really reveals an inadequate game: her repeated “Christian” in a high-pitched voice, as if she were asking a question (the same one that made people laugh when she made fun of the Comte de Guiche), make people giggle. the public instead of drawing tears from them…
A shame, because Emmanuel Daumas’ proposal is a beautiful tribute to the Rostand era, full of original ideas and beautiful theatrical moments, like the superb crescent moon typical of Méliès on which Cyrano climbs wrapped in his ornate cape of stars. All that’s missing is a little spark, a little something tying it all together, which could have made this production truly memorable.
Until April 29, 2024, in the Richelieu room of the Comédie-Française, in Paris. On January 25, 2024, the show will be broadcast live in more than 200 cinemas throughout France.
#ComédieFrançaise #kitsch #Cyrano #Bergerac