When: 3rd August – 4th September 2010, Tuesday – Saturday at 7.30pm, Saturday matinee 2.30pm and Sunday 5.30pm.
Where: The White Bear Theatre, 138 Kennington Park Road, London, SE11 4DJ
What is it?
From the first frantic moments, as the hustle and bustle of Paris is conveyed by the swishing of characters across the stage, the audience is hooked in to Cyrano de Bergerac. Director Simon Evans makes good use of the tiny room we are squeezed into and continues to bring the audience closer with a well placed protagonist and offers of lemonade.
The set is kept quite minimalist allowing for as seamless a flow between scenes as is possible in a room this size. The characters are well cast, especially the smug Rageneau (Ben Higgins), the pretty and devious Roxane (Iris Roberts) and Cyrano (Gwilym Lloyd) himself.
The more comic moments come across well, nicely balancing out the tragic parts. Looking around at the audience Cyrano may not have been the only one to shed a tear. Just one reminder to theatre-goers out there, please switch off your phone as it is incredibly annoying.
More info: White Bear Theatre Club, Simon Evans interview and tickets TicketWeb