Northern Broadsides and New Vic Theatre to Stage Premiere of CYRANO

Northern Broadsides are set to start off their 25th anniversary year by joining forces with the award-winning New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, to stage Cyrano, a new adaptation by award-winning playwright Deborah McAndrew (An August Bank Holiday Lark) of Edmond Rostand's classic romantic comedy Cyrano de Bergerac.

Directed by Northern Broadsides Resident director Conrad Nelson, the adaptation will premiere at the New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme, from 3 - 25 February 2017 before touring nationally until 27 May 2017.

Set in the golden age of musketeers, Deborah McAndrew's lively new adaptation brings fresh vigour to this swashbuckling tale of unrequited love. Add to this Northern Broadsides' musical panache, acclaimed charisma and exuberant performance style and you have a delightful evening of pure drama that will lift your spirits and make your heart ache.

Director Conrad Nelson said: "The adaptation embraces the poeticism of Rostand's drama, but does not confine itself to regular rhyming couplets of the original. Poetry and prose combine in this vibrant, funny, romantic and heartbreaking adaptation. Debbie McAndrew has created a carefully crafted version that marries the energy and vibrancy of youth with the romance and classicism of the original.

"Broadsides are committed to producing high quality new adaptations and new writing for the stage. This is an ideal combination for Northern Broadsides of a classic play and a contemporary adaptation. It is a process in which McAndrew and I work closely to create a new premiere for the stage and celebrates a fourth foreign language collaboration featuring a bespoke marriage of text, musicality, wit and invention."

Playwright Deborah McAndrew added about adapting the classic tale: "The original is entirely in verse and follows an Alexandrine form: rhyming couplet lines of twelve syllables. The form was revived by Rostand, having been a highly popular format in French verse during the 17th Century.

For me sticking to this Alexandrine form proved too much of a tyranny. To slavishly obey one verse format throughout is not flexible enough for me. In the end the writer is obliged to make the lines fit the form, which in my view is like the tail wagging the dog. Often this results in language that doesn't sit comfortably in the mouths of actors, and constantly chasing a rhyme is a constraint that threatens to undermine the flow narrative and performance.

Most of my version is in verse, but I have been far freer with the form, so that each mood, intention and character is served as well as possible. For example, as a dramatist it feels unnatural for me to write the plain soldier Christian in the same meter and register as the epic Cyrano. I also drop into prose from time to time, when the requirements are prosaic. I hope that the shifting form will serve the actors and help them play each moment to the full."

Playing the title role will be Richard Galazka who recently played Richard Hannay in the West End production of The 39 Steps. Richard will be joined in the cast by Paul Barnhill (Brassed Off, Oldham Coliseum and the recent Steven Spielberg version of The BFG which he appeared alongside his daughter Ruby who played the lead role of Sophie. Paul will also be appearing in Spielberg's next film Ready Player One); Angela Bain (Made in Dagenham, Queens Theatre); Adam Barlow (The Merry Wives, Northern Broadsides); Andy Cryer (Consuming Passions, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough); Jessica Dyas (The Winter's Tale, Northern Broadsides); Michael Hugo (Around the Day in Eighty days, New Vic Theatre/ Royal Exchange); Anthony Hunt (The Commitments, West End); , Perry Moore (Peter Pan in Scarlet, New Vic Theatre); Francesca Mills (A Pacifist's Guide to the War on Cancer, Complicitie and Star Wars: Force Awakens); Robert Wade, Andrew Whitehead (Unsung, Liverpool Everyman Theatre) and newcomer Sharon Singh as Roxane.

Co-producing with Staffordshire's New Vic Theatre, the production's fine creative team includes Lis Evans (An August Bank Holiday Lark) with lighting by Daniella Beattie, choreography by Beverley Edmunds, fighting directed by Philip d'Orléans and musical direction by Rebekah Hughes. Regulars at the New Vic Theatre, this will be Northern Broadsides eighth co-production with the venue. Previous co-productions have included The Tempest (2007), The Canterbury Tales (2010), Love's Labour's Lost (2012) the award-winning An August Bank Holiday Lark (2014) and most recently The Merry Wives (2016).

The production will open at the New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme from 3 - 25 February and will then tour to West Yorkshire Playhouse; Watford Palace Theatre; Liverpool Playhouse; The Dukes Lancaster; Stephen Joseph Theatre; York Theatre Royal; The Lowry Salford; Everyman Theatre Cheltenham; Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds; The Viaduct Theatre Halifax; Derby Theatre and Oxford Playhouse.

Cyrano will be the first of three productions Northern Broadsides will be staging to celebrate its 25th anniversary year. In May, the company will be joining forces with Hull Truck Theatre, as part of Hull 2017, for a revival of its first production in 1992 - Richard III.

For more information visit www.northern-broadsides.co.uk and www.newvictheatre.org.uk.

To post a comment, you must register and login.