The joy of Virginia Gay’s irreverent version of the Edmond Rostand favourite is in its chatty air and easy way with the audience. With the actors hanging out in the auditorium, Clare Watson’s production has begun before we have even sat down. When it properly starts, they have to tell us about it, repeatedly, in a series of meta-theatrical gags between a three-strong chorus (Tessa Wong, David Tarkenter and Tanvi Virmani) who are all neediness and no-name parts.
As a playwright, Gay claims this version as her own, although she sticks to the original fairly faithfully at first. Certainly, the conceit is the same: the bright, witty and pretty Roxanne (Jessica Whitehurst) falls for the brawny but inarticulate Christian, now known as Yan (Brandon Grace), failing to appreciate the ugly-duckling charm of Cyrano (Gay) who gamely feeds Yan with the love poetry he needs.
