There\u2019s swordfights and love interests, there\u2019s subterfuge and noblemen, and don\u2019t forget the oversized nose. The newest adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac has the same excitement and love, all wrapped up in a new script inspired by hip hop.<\/p>\n
Playwright and actor Jessy Ardern has re-written the classic French drama of unrequited love, hidden identity and a 17th century writer with a large nose and sharp wit. Cyrano de Bergerac opens at the Citadel on May 2, a show that has everything a theatre fanatic could want.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think what drew me at first is just to play with all the good stuff. It\u2019s got sword fighting, and clever wordplay, and rich, pompous villains who get taken down a peg, and love triangles. It just kind of has all of the juicy stuff,\u201d says Ardern. \u201cWhat made me really fall in love with it was the language.\u201d<\/p>\n
She is calling this new version a \u201cverse-ish adaptation,\u201d a re-writing of the language and dialogue of the show without significantly altering the plot. Written in 1897 by Edmond Rostand, the original featured rhyming couplets that Ardern felt left the audience predicting lines and skipping ahead in the dialogue.<\/p>\n
She had an appreciation for the original, a love story that celebrates language and poetry, revelling in the sensuality of the prose. But Ardern wanted to throw a curveball at the audience, break up the rhymes and the pacing to keep audiences guessing and not lead them along so easily. She listened to a lot of hip hop while working on the writing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s by no means a hip hop play, but I was really looking for a form that would allow for it to be poetic and keep the idea of rhyme and rhythm, but for the language to still feel quick and unpredictable,\u201d says Ardern. \u201cAnd so I listen to a lot of hip hop and try to sort of figure out how do you keep surprising the audience. Every time the audience thinks they understand the rhythm, the rhythm changes.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Ardern has updated the dialogue, it\u2019s still the story of unrequited love, of a man held back by his own insecurities while reacting to the outside world with the two weapons he knows: his sword and his words.<\/p>\n
The show\u2019s namesake, the Frenchman with the prominent proboscis, is a nobleman and an officer in the military. He\u2019s a strong and capable soldier, but his appearance makes him doubt his abilities with the fairer sex. Cyrano is in love with his cousin Roxanne (again, 17th Century noble man), who in turn loves another man, the beautiful Christian. Distraught by the situation, Cyrano agrees to help Christian woo the woman he loves through his words.<\/p>\n
While the show is set nearly 400 years in the past, Ardern sees the timelessness of a man who reaches for the wrong tools, seeking violence when confronted by the ugliness of the world around him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, we\u2019ve got this online culture that\u2019s growing, of young men trying to go back to what they think of as the good old days of masculinity being dominant and violent, and, if not superior to women, in a different place than women,\u201d says Ardern. \u201cI think, in a strange way, that\u2019s a question we\u2019re coming back around to what does it mean to be masculine?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ardern started working on her update almost two years ago. She heard The Citadel had Cyrano de Bergerac on a shortlist of shows they were looking to produce, so she pitched her idea of the updated verse.<\/p>\n
Ardern is also an established actor in the city, having graduated from the University of Alberta in 2016 and has performed in shows across the city, including a stint as Romeo with the Freewill Shakespeare Festival in 2023.<\/p>\n
But this is her first major production as a playwright, the first time she\u2019s had a big writing credit being put on by a major theatre organization, something as large as The Citadel.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m still not cool about it. I mean, they made that announcement last January, and I still walk past the building and see the poster up, and I get so excited,\u201d says Ardern. \u201cI\u2019m not at all chill about it in the slightest. It\u2019s so exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cyrano de Bergerac<\/p>\n
Written by: Edmonton Rostand, adapted by Jessy Ardern<\/p>\n
Starring: Scott Shpeley, Stephanie Sy, Alexander Ariate, Darren Martens<\/p>\n
When: May 2 to 24<\/p>\n
Where: The Citadel<\/p>\n
Tickets: Starting at $40, available through citadeltheatre.com or by calling the box office at 780-425-1820<\/p>\n
Related<\/p>\n
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