Cyrano de Bergerac

Cyrano de Bergerac has been one of the most intense references in our country's theater for over 25 years. I remember the day I went to see the play at the theater very well; I was a child, and I also remember having seen it many more times in the movie version, at home on video.

Josep Maria Flotats' staging is one of the reasons that lead me into the world of theater. At each rehearsal, I wonder why we hadn't tackled this text before? How is it possible that 28 years have passed and no one has done it again? Surely the answer is simple: the imprint of Flotats' staging has been too strong!

Rehearsing these great texts is a marvel where every verse surprises you with each word. For a company like ours, La Perla 29, it's interesting to change registers so much (we've just done Incendios by Lebanese playwright Wajdi Mouawad) and do a play about swords, hats, loves, hates, deceptions, war, humor, and ingenuity... we really feel like it at this moment.

Cyrano has stolen my heart. It's moving and very charming; it captivates you from the beginning, it seduces you. He's a strong, agile, intelligent man, a leader. He's a good person, sharp, daring, brave, slightly impertinent, and ironic. He manages to offend, but at the same time, he attracts. He's a proud and coherent gentleman, a man of integrity who would never accept to sell himself. Agile with the sword and with verse. A total man: good with letters and good in battle. Presented like this, he would seem like the perfect man, but no! No, perfection doesn't exist... and Cyrano has a problem! A deformity that concentrates on his large nose. The author's move is magnificent because the nose is what makes him imperfect. It's the visible display of imperfection. Cyrano is obsessed with his disproportionate nose, and the problem he has with it festers inside his spirit and taints his entire existence, making it complicated and difficult. He suffers.

Cyrano is strong and brave (he has all the qualities of a man), and at the same time, he is extremely sensitive and given to words. A man who ends up seducing not through the physical but through thought and poetry. Through sharp words. Finally, Cyrano's defect (his big nose) makes him brighter, but it makes him suffer excessively. And when he meets Christian, young and handsome, they fabricate an intelligent game that weaves a trap for the characters. A very Shakespearean game that involves doing theater within theater. Impersonating personalities, reaching the audience clearly: if you play another, you grow with him, and you get tangled up in dangerous but precious worlds.

Cyrano's work is wonderful, and the plot is very well crafted. Also because of the freshness of the verses and the way they reach the soul of all spectators. What Cyrano says to Rosaura is precious. It makes you shiver and move. In times of crisis, we seek strong and "totally tremendous" emotions. We eagerly seek what makes your whole body and soul vibrate. What makes you laugh while you cry. Cyrano is a musketeer's play, with fights, dances, swords, races, wars, love, theater, songs, betrayals, conspiracies, emotion, death, and more love. A complete and extraordinary work.

Oriol Broggi