"Roxanne dreamed of a handsome, intelligent, romantic man. C D Bales is two out of three ... but looks aren't everything!" That was the strapline for the 1987 cinema adaptation of Edmond Rostand's tragicomedy by the only sporadically funny Steve Martin.
The film presumably now lingers in Blockbuster's bargain bin, yet Martin's shadow flickered across the college gardens as Oxford Shakespeare Company hurtled enthusiastically into Christopher Fry's translation of the 1897 tale which led to Rostand being feted a national hero.
For a start, Philippe Spall sported a Pinocchio-style conk rather than the bulbous hooter preferred by Gerard Depardieu in the far superior 1990 film. Secondly, the cast quickly established a rapport with the small audience, and opted for a good deal of buffoonery, even during the scenes where Cyrano and his comrades were starving and facing a fight to the death with Spanish forces outside the beseiged town of Arras.
The boisterous early scenes -- bellowing characters leaped from behind props and sprinted about, changing costume as they did so -- left me confused and a little tetchy. But the tempo slowed with the entrance of the gaunt, melodiously-voiced Spall as the lyrical swordsman burdened by the belief that he is unlovable because of his ludicrous nose, despite possessing an enviable blend of machismo, guile and intuition.
Spall performed admirably as the soldier capable of trouncing 100 assassins in a brawl and unafraid to slip daily through enemy lines to send romantic letters to his graceful cousin Roxane (Sarah Goddard), yet who shies from confessing that he is infatuated by her.
It is only his penmanship that has led Roxane to fall in love with the handsome, blockheaded Christian (Steven Knightly), whom Roxane believes to have written the letters. As well as charming Roxane, the lonely Cyrano outfoxes Christian's lascivious and threatening rival, De Guiche (Mark Carlisle), who later finds redemption on the battlefield.
Spall's dying speeches under the starry sky, during which Cyrano boasts of his panache while confronting the apparent futility of his past heroism, even moved a lad in the front row -- who had sat attentively throughout, despite being only about four -- to tears.
Featuring strenuous performances and literally cracking special effects, this was a memorable night of theatre.
The same could not quite be said of Love's Labour's Lost, in which cheery friends Berowne, Longaville and Dumaine (Oliver Langdon, Mark Carlisle and Steve Knightly) and the aloof king of Navarre (a slightly Mr Beanish performance from Philippe Spall) swear to forgo women's company in order to study. But after they have made their pact they catch the eye of a group of visiting ladies and concoct increasingly desperate ways of winning their affections.
The cast were more sinned against than sinning, as they had to struggle with chilly weather and the sort of convoluted Elizabethan wordplay that would have caused attention to drift at The Globe. How many theatregoers are likely to chortle at Latin riddles?
I can't have been the only chap whose gaze was tempted to stray occasionally towards the trees a few yards away, behind which the nubile cast changed costume frequently and with remarkable efficiency.
But the tale had its moments, such as the silly hypocrisy of the friends, and the antics of Spanish poseur Don Armado (a clownish, guitar-strumming Mark Carlisle).
It was in full swing by the fourth of the five acts, in which the banter between bluerinsed academic Holofornes (Sarah Goddard) and her acolyte the stooped, pebble-spectacled curate (Steven Knightly)
was a treat. During the final act, an encounter between the would-be lovers dressed as bearded, dancing Russians, followed by theatrical hijinks featuring the Nine Worthies, was uproariously entertaining before the play lurched towards an unexpectedly doleful climax.
Oxford Shakespeare Company is performing Love's Labour's Lost and Cyrano de Bergerac at Wadham College Gardens until September 11. Call the Oxford Playhouse on 01865 305305.
PAUL STAMMERS
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