Full Cast Set For RSC's CYRANO DE BERGERAC With Adrian Lester

Full casting has been announced for the RSC's forthcoming production of Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand's thrilling, lyrical tale of love and lies, longing and disguise, in a new version by Simon Evans and Debris Stevenson, directed by Simon Evans. The production runs in the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon between Saturday 27 September and Saturday 15 November.

As previously announced Olivier Award-winning actor Adrian Lester makes his RSC debut to play Cyrano.  Adrian's theatre credits includes: Henry V, Othello (National Theatre; Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor), Company (Donmar Warehouse/West End; Olivier Award for Best Actor), As You Like It (Cheek by Jowl), Red Velvet(London and New York; Critics' Circle Best Actor Award), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Lehman Trilogy (Broadway; TONY Award nomination for Best Actor). Television credits include: Sandman, Hustle, Undeclared War, Undercover, Life, Trauma, Trigger Point and London Spy.  Film credits include: Primary Colors, The Day After Tomorrow, As You Like It, Dust and Mary, Queen of Scots.

Susannah Fielding returns to the RSC to play Roxane. Previous RSC credits include The Merchant of Venice (as Portia opposite Patrick Stewart's Shylock).  Other theatre credits include: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Bridge Theatre), The Country Wife, (Chichester Festival Theatre),The Crossing Plays (Royal Court), Bull (Young Vic), An Enemy of the People (Sheffield Crucible), The Merchant of Venice, American Psycho – The Musical (Almeida), The Beaux Stratagem, Much Ado About Nothing, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other, Philistines and The Rose Tattoo (National Theatre). Television credits include: Here We Go, The Cleaner, Who is Erin Carter?, This Time with Alan Partridge, Life, Black Mirror and The Cockfields. Susannah won the Ian Charleson Award in 2014 for her portrayal of Portia in The Merchant of Venice (Almeida).

Levi Brown makes his RSC debut as Christian. Other theatre credits include appearing alongside Ralph Fiennes in Macbeth (UK/global tour). TV credits include This Town (BBC One), for which he was nominated for an RTS and Edinburgh TV award, Babydoll (Paramount), Payback (ITV), Invasion (Apple) and I Hate You (Channel 4).

The full company comprises: Levi Brown (Christian de Neuvillette), Joseph Christain (Edmond (Young Reserve)), Sunny Chung (Sister Claire/Madame Jodolet), Philip Cumbus (Le Bret), Greer Dale-Foulkes (Abigail), Rachel Dawson (Band Member/Ensemble), Susannah Fielding (Roxane), Oliver Grant (Band Leader/Ensemble), Scott Handy (Comte de Guiche), Adrian Lester (Cyrano de Bergerac), Caolan McCarthy (Arnauld), David Mildon (Jodolet/ Carbon (Reserve)), Matt Mordak (Valvert/Pierre (Reserve)), Chris Nayak (Monfleury/Priest/Bernard (Reserve)), Daniel Norford (Louis (Reserve)) and Christian Patterson (Ragueneau).

Talking about the play, Simon Evans, director, said, "Cyrano de Bergerac is one of the great plays: swashbuckling, swaggering, aching with the unspoken; and what excites me most is the chance to approach it without irony. I'm a little tired of the trend for winking, knowing productions that seem afraid to feel too much or mean what they say. 

“This is a play about feeling and how we communicate it. How language seduces, protects, wounds, and heals, and it's a thrill to work on it with Debris Stevenson: finding an approach to the text that celebrates the original and finds new ways of unlocking it. Adrian Lester is remarkable, and brings a fierce intelligence and vulnerability to Cyrano: quick witted and stirring; while Susannah Fielding's Roxane will be funny, sharp, emotionally fearless. Together (and alongside the remarkable cast we've put together) they'll light the whole story from the inside and make it feel fresh, wild and exciting.

“This version is big-hearted, quick-witted, sharp tongued, and unapologetically sincere: period enough to lose yourself in, modern enough to feel like it's speaking directly to us about love, longing, and how we show ourselves to the world.”

Director Simon Evans' directing credits include: Inside No. 9: Stage/Fright (Wyndham's Theatre/tour), A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, Killer Joe (Trafalgar Studios), The Dazzle, Bug (Found111), and St Nicholas and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Donmar Warehouse). Simon also wrote, directed, co-created and starred in Staged (BBC1).  Debris Stevenson is a writer, actor, poet and multi-disciplinary artist. Works as a playwright include: Poet in Da Corner (Royal Court) and My Brother's a Genius (Theatre Centre).