Cyrano at Melbourne Theatre Company

By Virginia Gay

After Edmond Rostand

Directed by Sarah Goodes

Following the wild success of Calamity Jane, Virginia Gay ups the ante with a joyous, gender-flipped retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac, packed with music, wit and aching romance. Freely adapting and reimagining Edmond Rostand’s classic play, Gay gives us a delightfully self-aware theatrical rom-com for our times.

Cyrano is the most interesting person in any room – a wordsmith, a charmer, a ruthless fighter. She works twice as hard and runs twice as fast as any of the pretty boys, because she’s deeply ashamed of something about herself. Enter Roxanne: brilliant, beautiful Roxanne – a student of life, with a penchant for poetry and a way with words, just like Cyrano. But Roxanne doesn’t like Cyrano … not like that. She’s only got eyes for Yan: hot, manly Yan; all-brawn-and-no-brains Yan, who is dumbstruck around Roxanne. Probably shy, right? Until suddenly he starts saying the most amazing things. But it’s not Yan writing these perfect love scenes, it’s Cyrano ...

With director Sarah Goodes (Home, I’m Darling) at the helm, Virginia Gay (Vivid White, The Beast) in the title role, and a triumphant return to the stage after lockdown closed the production hours before opening in 2021, this is the Cyrano we both need and deserve: a love letter to hope; to overcoming loneliness and isolation; to language and desire, and the irrepressible magic of theatre; and to the hot mess that is the human heart.

"Complex, moving, very funny, very clever show." - Stage Whispers

★★★★ "Gay’s fresh take on the classic is undoubtedly daring, clever and funny." - Limelight

★★★★ "The experience is one of life-affirming happiness." - Theatre Matters

Director: Sarah Goodes

Written by: Virginia Gay (After Edmond Rostand)

Cast: Holly Austin, Virginia Gay, Robin Goldsworthy, Milo Hartill, Claude Jabbour, Tuuli Narkle.