CYRANO DE BERGERAC

Translated and Adapted by David Grimm

COMEDY Adaptation

CYRANO DE BERGERAC is brand new adaptation in verse of the famous crowd-pleasing tale of love, honor, and panache, by way of a warrior-poet with a huge nose and a huge complex about it.

Production notes:

Casting: While as large a cast as possible is encouraged to bring to life the world of this play, no smaller an ensemble than 16 actors should be used.

Setting: Paris and Arras, 1640 (Act I-IV); and 1655 (Act V).

Run Time: 3 hours.

A Note On This Adaptation:

Edmond Rostand brought the verisimilitude of a naturalist painter’s eye to the five tableaux vivants which constitute the five acts of his great play, CYRANO DE BERGERAC. Some of these contained satirical comments or inside jokes about the various mis en scene presented, their meanings now lost to a modern world. In adapting Rostand’s play, I kept as much of his naturalist’s vision as to paint the scene, scaling back on some of the details. Consequently, there are deeper cuts in the text of the first two acts than those subsequent.

As for Rostand’s poetry — I’ve sought to create a dramatic motivation for the rhyme, rather than using it throughout. Cyrano’s world is one always on the verge of rhyming; it has poetry in its veins but it needs Cyrano himself to launch it into full bloom. It is passion itself which creates the rhyme in this version of the play. The pentameter is the beat of Cyrano’s own heart.

—David Grimm

Author

David Grimm

David Grimm is a Brooklyn-based award-winning playwright and screenwriter. Plays include: IBSEN IN CHICAGO (Seattle Rep.); a new adaptation of CYRANO DE BERGERAC (Perseverance); TALES FROM RED VIENNA (Manhattan Theatre Club); MEASURE FOR PLEASURE (Public Theatre; Bug ‘n Bub Award; GLAAD Award nomination); THE MIRACLE AT NAPLES (Huntington; Best New Play IRNE Award); STEVE & IDI (Rattlestick); CHICK (Hartford Stage); THE LEARNED LADIES OF PARK AVENUE (Hartford Stage); KIT MARLOWE (Public Theatre; GLAAD Award nomination); SHERIDAN, OR SCHOOLED IN SCANDAL (La Jolla); ENOUGH ROPE (Williamstown; starring Elaine Stritch), and Susanna Centlivre's THE GAMING TABLE (for which he wrote additional material; Folger Library Theatre). Shorter works include ORIFLAMME (part of “Desire”); the song cycle BOXES, BUCKETS, & BAGS (music by Peter Golub; Liederabend @ The Kitchen); DIVINITY DU STYX (24 Hour plays); BROOKLYN EVENING (One Minute Play Festival); A LA RECHERCHE DU FRANK PERDUE (Red Bull Verse Play Festival); and others.

In Film, Grimm has written the dialogue for Matthew Barney’s RIVER OF FUNDAMENT, as well as TV work.

David is the recipient of an NEA/TCG Residency Grant and... [FULL BIO]