Cyrano de Bergerac

by Edmond Rostand adapted by Martin Crimp

seen by live streaming from the Playhouse Theatre on 20 February 2020

Jamie Lloyd directs Jamrs McAvoy in the title role, with Anita-Joy Uwajeh as Roxane, Eben Figueiredo as Christian and Tom Edden as De Guiche, in a production designed by Soutra Gilmour and lit by Jon Clark.

Edmond Rostand's 1897 play sought to re-intorduce poetry and the idea of romantic heroism to a theatre world which he saw as bedevilled by too much naturalism. Traditionally this has inspired productions revelling in lush seventeenth-century costunes and swaggering panache, with Cyrano, the main character, a self-defined misfit in an age where physical attractiveness is held o be essential in the world of love.

The Treatment

by Martin Crimp

seen at the Almeida Theatre on 10 May 2017

Lyndsey Turner directs this revival of Martin Crimp's 1993 play, with Aisling Loftus as Anne, Indira Varma as Jennifer and Julian Ovenden as Andrew, supported by Matthew Needham as Simon, Ellora Torchia as Nicky, Ian Gelder as Clifford and Gary Beadle as John and a couple of dozen mostly silent extras. The sets are designed by Giles Cad;e and lit by Neil Austin.

This is a really disturbing play, not least because it begins in what could be just a probing but essentially light-hearted satirical tone as two 'facilitators', husband and wife team Jennifer and Andrew, listen to Anne's strange tale of being tied up and having tape placed over her mouth. They immediately perceive this as the prelude for sexual assault or abuse, ignoring Anne's insistence that there was no abuse, not even any physical conflict or contact. They are already envisaging a fairly conventional sexual thriller, while Anne is soon uncomfortably aware that she is out of her depth.