Cyrano de Bergerac

Edmond Rostand, Damien Ryan

• Publisher: Currency Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781760621636
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

'It stays with me, one thing… my panache!'%##CHAR13##%%##CHAR13##%Cyrano de Bergerac is convinced that his outrageously sized nose will forever stop him from being loved by Roxane, his intellectual and beautiful friend. But Roxane is in love—with Christian, a handsome yet inarticulate soldier in Cyrano's regiment. Together, Christian and Cyrano make a flawless human.%##CHAR13##%%##CHAR13##%Edmond Rostand's original 1890s tragicomic French masterpiece is the unique romance that brought the word 'panache' into the English language. This new adaptation by Damien Ryan brings the action forward to WWI, where Cyrano is a war poet like no other.%##CHAR13##%%##CHAR13##%Sport for Jove's production of Cyrano de Bergerac won three Sydney Theatre Awards in 2013.%##CHAR13##%%##CHAR13##%'It's an absolutely inspired adaptation, which soars with the poetry and pathos of Rostand's original... It's robust, lively, joyous and very funny, as well as deeply humane and poignant.' — Jo Litson, Limelight

ACT TWO

PATRON OF THE TARTS

Ragueneau’s cook and pastry shop in the grey dawn. A large, bustling kitchen/store at the corner of the Rue du Théâtre and the Rue de l’Arbre Sec, somewhat worse for wear but bursting at the seams with the creativity of Ragueneau’s produce. Tables laden with rolls and dishes of food, some of them works of culinary art. Other tables surrounded with chairs/benches ready for consumers.

A small table in a corner is covered with papers, at which RAGUENEAU is seated, sleeping amidst his writings.

FIRST PASTRYCOOK enters, carrying an elaborate fancy dish.

FIRST PASTRYCOOK: Fruits in nougat!

SECOND PASTRYCOOK enters, carrying another dish.

SECOND PASTRYCOOK: Custard!

THIRD PASTRYCOOK enters, carrying a roast, decorated with feathers.

THIRD PASTRYCOOK: Peacock!

FOURTH PASTRYCOOK enters, carrying a batch of cakes on a slab.

FOURTH PASTRYCOOK: Tarts!

Entering, LISE throws a basin of water over her sleeping/writing husband.

LISE: Time to cook, not be a patron of the arts!

RAGUENEAU: [raising his head—frank and despondent, oppressed]

Ah, the dawn—that burns the dreams of hopeful men.

Takes us from inks and rhymes to sinks and grime and then,

Puts copper pans and flans in hands that could be writing.

Tomorrow’s ballads tossed in salads—how inviting!

He rises.

[To a PASTRYCOOK] You—make that sauce longer, it’s too short!

FIRST PASTRYCOOK: How much too short?

RAGUENEAU: [tasting] Three beats.

[To SECOND PASTRYCOOK, showing them some loaves] This clef is misplaced; balance the metaphor.

[To THIRD PASTRYCOOK, showing them an unfinished pastry] Put the comma here and see the difference?

[To FOURTH PASTRYCOOK] The caesura comes between the hemistichs!

[To LISE] Beautiful, isn’t it?

LISE: Ridiculous.

She puts a pile of papers on the counter.

RAGUENEAU: Paper bags! Good. Thank you.

My God—woman—what have you done? This is poetry.

These are the poems of my friends! Torn, dismembered,

To make biscuit bags. These are manuscripts!

LISE: This indulgent crap was all we ever got

As payment from that good-for-nothing lot.

Why shouldn’t I make use of it?

RAGUENEAU: By turning poetry to paper bags?!

LISE: [moving off to the kitchen] Yes—and profit.

RAGUENEAU: [screaming after her] My God! What would you do with prose?!

As LISE exits into the kitchen, she holds up a toilet roll made from his latest short story.

CYRANO: [bursting in, rapid pace to the exchanges] What time is it?

RAGUENEAU: Six o’clock.

CYRANO: One hour.

RAGUENEAU: I neglected to pay your dues last night? Bravo!

CYRANO: For what?

RAGUENEAU: The fight.

CYRANO: Which one?

RAGUENEAU: The duel in verse!

LISE: [returning] I’m afraid that he can talk of nothing else!

CYRANO: Oh, ...