Imagine the character of Cyrano de Bergerac, and what you see first is probably his nose — the thing that keeps him from his love, Roxane. Then perhaps you envision the feathered 17th-century cap and the rapier. James McAvoy, starring in an updated version of Edmond Rostand’s play about the legendary French raconteur, has none of those things — just his native Scottish accent, a buzz cut, and a smoldering glare. Director Jamie Lloyd, famous for paring back the classics (especially Pinter) on the West End, reconceptualized Cyrano in an attempt to see how far he could push an audience to look past the stodgy, expected trappings of a period drama in verse and focus on the language itself. (A recent musical film starring Peter Dinklage and his stage performance did away with the schnoz too but kept a sumptuous period setting.)
Lloyd’s Cyrano first played the West End in 2019 and received rave reviews celebrating the dexterity of Martin Crimp’s modern translation, which brings elements of slam poetry and rap to Rostand’s verse, and McAvoy’s baldly emotional performance. One long pandemic delay and a repeat run in London (plus a Glasgow stop) later, Cyrano has made it to America. “I’m not Cyrano, but the way I’m playing Cyrano is like me if I was really fucking angry and lonely and insecure about the way I look,†McAvoy tells me the afternoon following opening night.
Feeling Out the Space
The day starts in rehearsal with Jamie Lloyd, James McAvoy, and the cast adjusting to BAM Harvey Theater’s wider stage, mapping how much to spread themselves out to accommodate it. “This theater’s got its own vibe,†McAvoy says. “The silences in it are incredible.â€
“We’ve done this in four theaters, and every one’s given us a slightly different relationship with the audience.â€
From left: Evelyn Miller (Roxane), McAvoy, and Michele Austin (Ragueneau).
Re-fueling
Midway through the day, McAvoy scarfs down some roast chicken and fries from Chicken Stop down the street, “which I quite like.†It’s a hasty affair. “I like to eat my dinner real quick†after rehearsal, he says, to leave time to get in some rest and recovery before prepping for the show.Â
In this adaptation, Cyrano’s characters wear modern dress as its actors would. “The boots in the show are my boots,†McAvoy says, as is the shirt he “lived in†for a while.
At Ease
“The way Jamie likes to rehearse, it’s like we’re doing the play all day long.†So to avoid total exhaustion, McAvoy settles down on a cot, appropriate for a military character, in his dressing room for a little shut-eye.
“I try to get a half-hour to 45 minutes of sleep before we warm up.â€
Center Stage
Much of Cyrano’s rehearsals have focused on the specifics of the show’s intricate blocking. “The way Jaime directs is so precise that if anybody moves out of time, it draws focus away from where the audience is meant to be looking.â€
Brains and Brawn
McAvoy claims he hadn’t worked out in the seven months before revisiting Cyrano and has made getting back into shape part of his theater routine. “I’m quite short and stocky, and when I start to work out, I get like a tank, and that’s how I want to play him — like a tank.â€
“Part of my warm-up will be a bodyweight routine, but the theater got me weights, and now we do pull-ups as well.â€
Vibe Check
While working out and prepping for the show, McAvoy has “a little playlist going on†that helps him channel Cyrano’s braggadocio. “I listen to the Arctic Monkeys, I listen to a lot of Macklemore, and I listen to Black Keys and the Streets, like, from a long time ago.â€
Sports!
Cyrano depends on characters interrupting one another’s verse, so to get everyone in sync, the cast plays a game: Keep a ball in the air until everyone has touched it and then toss it in a bucket, if there is one. (They had to modify it to something more like volleyball when they got to America, sans bucket.)
Team Bonding
“We all have such a good time playing the game, and it gets us together in the same place to the same frame of mind.â€
From left: Austin, McAvoy, Vaneeka D Dadhria (Beatboxer).
Voice Control
Onstage, McAvoy switches between a handheld microphone and one taped to the side of his head, seen getting attached by a crewmember here. In Crimp’s translation, Cyrano has monologues that flow in reams of complex language. “Before the show, I’ll run through a couple of my bigger bits.â€
“For this audience, I might have to slow it down a little bit, just for my accent.†As Cyrano, he speaks in his natural Scottish lilt and does everything he can to give Americans “a bit more of a leg up on this exotic sound.â€
In Crimp’s version and this staging, McAvoy says, “Cyrano becomes an examination of self-worth through the eye of masculinity.â€
Haribo High
Before the play, McAvoy must complete his ritual: downing a bag of Haribo gummy bears. He spends Cyrano pacing, fighting, lusting, declaiming. “Fuck me, man — there’s a lot of energy involved.â€
Assemble
Before the curtain rises, the cast arrays themselves on their new, bigger stage, facing the audience in those opening minutes.
Photographs by Pari Dukovic/PARI DUKOVIC, Pari Dukovic/PARI DUKOVIC PHOTOGRAPHY
Feeling Out the Space
The day starts in rehearsal with Jamie Lloyd, James McAvoy, and the cast adjusting to BAM Harvey Theater’s wider stage, mapping how much to spread themselves out to accommodate it. “This theater’s got its own vibe,†McAvoy says. “The silences in it are incredible.â€
“We’ve done this in four theaters, and every one’s given us a slightly different relationship with the audience.â€
From left: Evelyn Miller (Roxane), McAvoy, and Michele Austin (Ragueneau).
Re-fueling
Midway through the day, McAvoy scarfs down some roast chicken and fries from Chicken Stop down the street, “which I quite like.†It’s a hasty affair. “I like to eat my dinner real quick†after rehearsal, he says, to leave time to get in some rest and recovery before prepping for the show.Â
In this adaptation, Cyrano’s characters wear modern dress as its actors would. “The boots in the show are my boots,†McAvoy says, as is the shirt he “lived in†for a while.
At Ease
“The way Jamie likes to rehearse, it’s like we’re doing the play all day long.†So to avoid total exhaustion, McAvoy settles down on a cot, appropriate for a military character, in his dressing room for a little shut-eye.
“I try to get a half-hour to 45 minutes of sleep before we warm up.â€
Center Stage
Much of Cyrano’s rehearsals have focused on the specifics of the show’s intricate blocking. “The way Jaime directs is so precise that if anybody moves out of time, it draws focus away from where the audience is meant to be looking.â€
Brains and Brawn
McAvoy claims he hadn’t worked out in the seven months before revisiting Cyrano and has made getting back into shape part of his theater routine. “I’m quite short and stocky, and when I start to work out, I get like a tank, and that’s how I want to play him — like a tank.â€
“Part of my warm-up will be a bodyweight routine, but the theater got me weights, and now we do pull-ups as well.â€
Vibe Check
While working out and prepping for the show, McAvoy has “a little playlist going on†that helps him channel Cyrano’s braggadocio. “I listen to the Arctic Monkeys, I listen to a lot of Macklemore, and I listen to Black Keys and the Streets, like, from a long time ago.â€
Sports!
Cyrano depends on characters interrupting one another’s verse, so to get everyone in sync, the cast plays a game: Keep a ball in the air until everyone has touched it and then toss it in a bucket, if there is one. (They had to modify it to something more like volleyball when they got to America, sans bucket.)
Team Bonding
“We all have such a good time playing the game, and it gets us together in the same place to the same frame of mind.â€
From left: Austin, McAvoy, Vaneeka D Dadhria (Beatboxer).
Voice Control
Onstage, McAvoy switches between a handheld microphone and one taped to the side of his head, seen getting attached by a crewmember here. In Crimp’s translation, Cyrano has monologues that flow in reams of complex language. “Before the show, I’ll run through a couple of my bigger bits.â€
“For this audience, I might have to slow it down a little bit, just for my accent.†As Cyrano, he speaks in his natural Scottish lilt and does everything he can to give Americans “a bit more of a leg up on this exotic sound.â€
In Crimp’s version and this staging, McAvoy says, “Cyrano becomes an examination of self-worth through the eye of masculinity.â€
Haribo High
Before the play, McAvoy must complete his ritual: downing a bag of Haribo gummy bears. He spends Cyrano pacing, fighting, lusting, declaiming. “Fuck me, man — there’s a lot of energy involved.â€
Assemble
Before the curtain rises, the cast arrays themselves on their new, bigger stage, facing the audience in those opening minutes.
Photographs by Pari Dukovic/PARI DUKOVIC, Pari Dukovic/PARI DUKOVIC PHOTOGRAPHY
Reflections
Meanwhile, McAvoy in this moment sits at the back of the stage staring into a mirror, overhearing the other characters badmouth Cyrano and his nose: “I find it easy to start hating myself and come on with a big chip on my shoulder.â€
Intermission
But ultimately, “Jamie wants us to be ourselves.â€
From left, Nima Taleghani (Ligniere), Evelyn Miller (Roxane), and Joseph Langdon (Jean-Paul) with McAvoy.
“Jamie took pictures of us every day and at the end of rehearsal, we were presented with a slightly heightened version of what we would wear every day.â€
Awaiting His Flowers
During the Glasgow run, Lloyd compared McAvoy to a rock star being hailed by his people. “I get quite attached to audience reactions,†McAvoy says. “There’s something great about the call-and-response.â€
Postmortem
McAvoy confers with Lloyd after the first performance. “Jaime was ecstatic,†McAvoy says. “I found it weird because it’s a different crowd, a different reaction.†The next day, they’ll kick off the morning rehearsal with Lloyd’s notes. “He’ll tell us what we did wrong, what we did right, probably fuckin’ make us physically block it again because I’m sure we all stood in the wrong places,†he says. “The usual!â€
Lloyd and McAvoy.
Photographs by Pari Dukovic/PARI DUKOVIC, Pari Dukovic/PARI DUKOVIC PHOTOGRAPHY
Reflections
Meanwhile, McAvoy in this moment sits at the back of the stage staring into a mirror, overhearing the other characters badmouth Cyrano and his nose: “I find it easy to start hating myself and come on with a big chip on my shoulder.â€
Intermission
But ultimately, “Jamie wants us to be ourselves.â€
From left, Nima Taleghani (Ligniere), Evelyn Miller (Roxane), and Joseph Langdon (Jean-Paul) with McAvoy.
“Jamie took pictures of us every day and at the end of rehearsal, we were presented with a slightly heightened version of what we would wear every day.â€
Awaiting His Flowers
During the Glasgow run, Lloyd compared McAvoy to a rock star being hailed by his people. “I get quite attached to audience reactions,†McAvoy says. “There’s something great about the call-and-response.â€
Postmortem
McAvoy confers with Lloyd after the first performance. “Jaime was ecstatic,†McAvoy says. “I found it weird because it’s a different crowd, a different reaction.†The next day, they’ll kick off the morning rehearsal with Lloyd’s notes. “He’ll tell us what we did wrong, what we did right, probably fuckin’ make us physically block it again because I’m sure we all stood in the wrong places,†he says. “The usual!â€
Lloyd and McAvoy.
Photographs by Pari Dukovic/PARI DUKOVIC, Pari Dukovic/PARI DUKOVIC PHOTOGRAPHY
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