drama

Lowell Bair's translation of "Cyrano de Bergerac" is done by discrding the rhyme and meter of the original for a simpler prose translation. Even the duel ballade of Act I and the Gascon Cadets' introductory triolet are reworked into blank verse. Bair makes the play accessible and provides a fresh, delightful version. My only criticism is that he has thrown out the baby with the bathwater, diluting the poetry of the original in the process. Still, most readers will find it an enjoyable read, and Cyrano scholars like myself will appreciate the usefulness of his approach.

I first read Cyrano de Bergerac when I was in sixth grade and I loved it. When I was in my freshman year at high school, I read in the newspaper that the Utah State Theatre Department at USU would be doing a production of Cyrano. I called as soon as I could to audition. We used this exact book as the script for the play, and it was a smashing success.

This really is a fine version of the original, and I would recommend it to anyone.

Edmond Rostand established a name for himself, and a superlative magnum opus, when he wrote this singular and playful work of cunning, heroism, & love. While many may know vaguely of the legendary tale of the real Cyrano, few have surprisingly actually read this delightful gem of a play based only nominally on the man himself. Cyrano de Bergerac incorporates all that is 17th century France in a nutshell: the romance, wit, bombast, refinement, gallantry, and pompousness. Cyrano embodies all of these and more.

Rostand uses a seemingly endless flow of great witticisms and a keen use of wordplay that make the play enjoyable and fun to read. It reads similarly to a Shakespeare comedy -- albeit in a much more fluid and smooth manner. The outlandish tales of Cyrano single-handedly defeating 100 men in battle, of him being a scientist, poet, and warrior all at once make for an outrageously entertaining tale of bombast and hyperbole. Cyrano, when exhorted to seek his true love Roxane by his friend Le Bret, exclaims, "Come now, think a moment: this nose of mine, which precedes me by a quarter of an inch everywhere I go, forbids me ever to dream of being loved by even an ugly woman."

Our hero, who personifies the intrepid soldier on the battlefield, rebuffs Le Bret's persistence by retorting, "So that she'll laugh in my face? No! That's the one thing in the world that I fear!" Cyrano, our affable and valiant swashbuckling hero, reveals that he is, despite the brazen posturing, a mere human after all. And, like everyone else, possesses his own unique set of fears. In the face of awkward human imperfection, Cyrano teaches us the need to transcend -- that love of another's soul must, in order for true happiness to be fully achieved, supersede the shallowness of physical appearance. A great lesson that more people should learn.

"Pardon me for having involved you in a disastrous adventure."
Edmond Rostand to the actor portraying Cyrano minutes before the play's initial performance.