Edmond Rostand - Cyrano De Bergerac

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ISBN-10: 1523999764

ISBN-13: 978-1523999767

About This Work

Rostand’s Cyrano is a fiction invoking the real Cyrano de Bergerac, a seventeenth century French playwright, poet, and duellist, who was an early creator of science-fiction fantasy, in particular a comic history of a journey to the Moon. From the scanty details of the real Cyrano’s life documented by his friend Henri Le Bret, Rostand created a larger than life comic hero, whose wit, courage, spirit and ability partially overcome his physical defect, an embarrassingly large nose. Rostand cleverly and meticulously evokes the historical period in which his hero lived. The play is written in rhyming verse, as is this translation, stylistically supporting some of the play’s best wit and verbal effects. The plot centres around Cyrano’s unrequited and unrecognised love for Roxanne; his indomitable courage in the face of disappointment and failure; and the many ways in which he defends himself and attacks his enemies while never losing his sense of humour, his delight in words, and his panache. There are moments of rare beauty and pathos in the verse, and the overall effect certainly justifies the immense enthusiasm that greeted its first performances, and the many revivals of the play since, especially in film adaptation.

Act One: A Theatrical Production at The Hotel Burgundy

Act Two: The Poets' Pastry Shop

Act Three: Roxane's Kiss

Act Four: The Gascony Cadets

Act Five: Cyrano's Gazette

The Characters

‘Coquelin dans la rôle de Cyrano de Bergerac’
L'ILLUSTRATION, 8 January 1898, Wikimedia Commons

The Crowd, troopers, citizens (male and female), marquises, musketeers, pickpockets, pastry-cooks, poets, Gascon cadets, actors (male and female), violinists, pages, children, soldiers, Spaniards, spectators (male and female), précieuses (intellectuals), nuns, etc.

Act One

The hall of the Hotel Burgundy, in 1640. A sort of tennis-court arranged and decorated for a theatrical production.

The hall is oblong and we see it obliquely, so that one of its sides forms the back scene and runs from the right foreground, to meet the left background where it makes a right angle with the stage prepared for the production, which is partially visible.

On both sides of the stage along the wings are benches. The curtain is composed of two tapestries that can be drawn apart. Above a harlequin’s cloak are the royal arms. Broad steps lead from the stage to the hall; on either side of these steps are places for the violinists. Footlights.

There are two tiers of side galleries: the highest divided into boxes. There are no seats in the pit, which is the real stage of our theatre: at the back of the pit, on the right foreground, some benches form steps, and underneath a stairway which leads to the upper galleries an improvised buffet is ornamented with little tapers, flower vases, crystal glasses, plates of cakes, bottles, etc.

The entrance to the theatre is centre-back, under the gallery of boxes. A large double door is half open to let in the audience. On the panels of this door, and in several corners, and over the buffet, red placards bear the name of the play being performed, ‘La Clorise.’

As the curtain rises the hall is in semi-darkness, and still empty. The chandeliers have been lowered into the middle of the pit ready for lighting.

Scene One

The public, arrive gradually. Troopers, citizens, servants, pages, a pickpocket, the doorkeeper, etc., followed by the Marquises Cuigy, Brissaille, the orange-seller, the violinists, etc.

(A tumult of loud voices is heard outside the door and a trooper enters hastily.)

First Servant (taking from his pocket a candle-end, which he lights, and sets on the floor)

(They form in groups round the chandeliers as they are lit. Some people have taken their seats in the galleries. Lignière enters: a distinguished-looking roué, with disordered shirtfront, arm-in-arm with Christian de Neuvillette. Christian, who is dressed elegantly, but rather behind the fashion, appears preoccupied, and keeps looking up at the boxes.)

Scene Two

Cuigy (to Christian, drawing his attention to the hall, which is filling fast)

(They name the different elegantly dressed ladies who enter the boxes, and bow to them, receiving smiles in reply.)

(SHOUTS from the whole audience, at the entry of a plump little man, excited and joyful.)

Ragueneau (dressed like a pastry-cook in his Sunday best, approaching Lignière, hastily.)

(Pointing to a gentleman who is going up and down the hall as if searching for some one.)

(Murmurs of admiration in the hall. Roxane has just appeared in her box. She seats herself in front, the duenna at the back. Christian, who is paying the orange-seller, doesn’t see her entrance.)

(At this moment an elegant nobleman, blue ribbon on his chest, enters the box, and stands there talking to Roxane.)

(He stands looking at her. The group of pickpockets seeing him, head in air and open-mouthed, draw close to him.)

Le Bret (who has been all round the hall, coming back to Ragueneau reassured.)

Scene Three

A Marquis (watching De Guiche, who comes down from Roxane’s box, and crosses the pit surrounded by obsequious noblemen, among them the Viscomte de Valvert.)

(He goes toward the stage, followed by the marquises and gentlemen. He turns and calls.)

(He puts his hand in his pocket, and discovers the hand of a pickpocket who is about to rob him. He turns round.)

(He hurries out. De Guiche, the Viscomte, the Marquises, have all disappeared behind the curtain to take their places on the benches placed on stage. The pit is quite full; the galleries and boxes are also crowded.)

A Citizen (whose wig is drawn up on the end of a string by a page in the upper gallery)

(A chair is passed from hand to hand, over the heads of the spectators. The marquis takes it and disappears, after blowing some kisses to the boxes.)

(Someone gives three raps again. The curtain opens. Tableau. The marquises in insolent attitudes seated on each side of the stage. The scene represents a pastoral landscape. Four little chandeliers light the stage; the violins play softly.)

(An air on the pipes is heard, and Montfleury enters, enormously fat, in an Arcadian shepherd’s dress, a hat wreathed with roses drooping over one ear, blowing into a beribboned flute.)

Cyrano (appearing suddenly in the pit, standing on a chair, his arms crossed, his hat cocked fiercely, his moustache bristling, his nose terrible to see)

Scene Four

Cyrano (leaves his chair, sits down in the middle of the circle which has formed, and makes himself at home.)

(Montfleury disappears as through a trapdoor. Tempests of laughter, whistles, shouts, etc.)

(The people begin to go out, while Cyrano watches with an air of satisfaction. But the crowd soon halt on hearing the following scene, and their exit ceases. The women, who are already standing up in the boxes, with their cloaks on, stop to listen, and finally sit down again.)

(He goes up to Cyrano, who is watching him, and stands in front of him, with a conceited air)

(Tableau. A circle of curious spectators in the pit; the marquises and the officers mixed in with the common people: pages climbing on each other’s shoulders to see better. All the women standing up in the boxes. To the right, De Guiche and his gentlemen. Left, Le Bret, Ragueneau, Cuigy, etc.)

(Acclamations. Applause in the boxes. Flowers and handkerchiefs shower down. The officers surround Cyrano, congratulating him. Ragueneau dances for joy. Le Bret is happy, but anxious. The Viscomte’s friends hold him up and carry him off.)

Scene Five

Scene Six

Scene Seven

Cyrano, Le Bret. Then actors, actresses, Cuigy, Brissaille, Lignière, the porter, the violinists.

(For a few moments past the shadows of actors have been moving on the stage, whispers are heard - the rehearsal is beginning. The violinists are in their places.)

A Voice From the Stage Hey! Sssh! You there! Silence! We’re rehearsing our lines!

(He moves away. Cuigy, Brissaille, and some officers, enter by the main door, holding up Lignière, who is completely drunk.)

Cyrano (in a terrible voice, showing him the lighted lantern held by the porter, who is listening, with curiosity)

(The actors and actresses, in their costumes, have come down from the stage, and are listening.)

(The violinists etc. join the procession, which is forming. They take the footlights, and share them out as torches.)

(The porter opens the doors: a view of old picturesque Paris is seen in the moonlight.)

(He goes out. Lignière staggers first after him, then the actresses on the officers’ arms – then the comedians, leaping about. The procession marches into the night to the sound of violins, in the faint light of the candles.)

Act Two

Ragueneau’s bakery and pastry-shop. A large place at the corner of the Rue Saint Honoré and the Rue de l’Arbre Sec, which is seen in the background through the glass door, in the first light of dawn.

On the left, in the foreground, a counter surmounted by a stand of forged iron, on which are hung geese, ducks, and white peacocks. In great china vases there are tall bouquets of ordinary flowers, mainly yellow sunflowers.

On the same side, farther back, an immense fireplace, in front of which, between great firedogs on each of which hangs a little saucepan, roasts are dripping into pans.

Farther back a staircase leading to a little room under the eaves, the interior of which is visible through the open shutter. A table is laid, there. A small Flemish candlestick is alight. It is a private place for eating and drinking. A wooden gallery, continuing the staircase, apparently leads to other similar little rooms.

In the middle of the shop an iron ring is suspended from the ceiling by a rope with which it can be drawn up and down, and game is hung around it, like a chandelier.

The ovens in the darkness under the stairs give out a red glow. The copper pans shine. The spits are turning. Heaps of food formed into pyramids. Hams suspended. It is the busy hour of the morning. Bustle and hurry of scullions, fat cooks, and diminutive apprentices, their caps decorated with cock’s feathers and the wings of guinea-fowl.

On metal dishes and wicker platters they bring in quincunxes of cakes and villages of tarts.

The tables are covered with rolls and dishes of food. Other tables surrounded with chairs are ready for the winers and diners.

A small table in a corner is covered with papers, at which Ragueneau is seated writing as the curtain rises.

‘Cook with a Pie’
Theodor Matham, Caspar van Baerle, Joachim von Sandrart, 1645, The Rijksmuseum

Scene One

Ragueneau, pastry-cooks, then Lise. Ragueneau is writing, with an inspired air, at a small table, and counting on his fingers.

Scene Two

(He puts it aside, and takes another, and as he is about to put in the pies, he reads)

Ragueneau (taking advantage of the moment she turns her back, calls back the children, who are already at the door)

Scene Three

Ragueneau (stopping short, in the act of thrusting with an imaginary sword, to look at the clock)

Lise (to Cyrano, who, as he passes by the counter, has absently shaken hands with her)

Cyrano (nervously seating himself at Ragueneau’s table, and drawing some paper toward him)

(He writes. Through the glass door the silhouettes of figures are visible, thin and hesitant.)

Scene Four

Ragueneau, Lise, the musketeer. Cyrano at the little table writing. The poets, dressed in black, their stockings slipping down and covered in mud.

‘Tour de Nesle’
Histoire physique, civile et morale de Paris ... Quatrième édition - Jacques-Antoine Dulaure, Louis Batissier (p552, 1846)
The British Library

Cyrano (writing a little way off, - he’s heard to murmur a word from time to time)

(He stops, on the point of signing it, and gets up, slipping the letter into his doublet.)

Ragueneau (who has readied himself for his recital, cleared his throat, settled his cap, and struck a pose)

(Ragueneau goes after his friends. Cyrano follows him with his eyes, then, rather sharply)

(Lise, who is talking tenderly to the musketeer, starts in surprise, and comes down toward Cyrano.)

(He bows to the musketeer, and goes to the doorway to look out, after checking the time by the clock.)

(They all follow Ragueneau in procession, after sweeping all the cakes off the trays.)

Scene Five

(Roxane, masked, appears at the glass pane of the door, followed by the duenna. He opens it quickly.)

(He shuts the door, comes down toward Roxane, and, removing his hat, stands at a respectful distance from her.)

Scene Six

Roxane (seating herself by the table, and dipping her handkerchief in a glass of water)

(She goes out. Cyrano stands motionless, his eyes on the ground. A silence. The door opens. Ragueneau looks in.)

Scene Seven

Cyrano, Ragueneau, poets, Carbon de Castel-Jaloux, the cadets, a crowd, then De Guiche.

(Ragueneau signs to his friends, and they come in. At the same time, by the door at back, Carbon de Castel-Jaloux enters in Captain’s uniform. He makes a gesture of surprise on seeing Cyrano.)

Carbon (going to the door and calling across the street in a voice of thunder)

(Outside the street has filled with people. Sedan chairs and carriages have drawn up.)

(A movement in the crowd. De Guiche appears, escorted by officers, Cuigy, Brissaille, the officers who went with Cyrano the night before. Cuigy comes rapidly up to Cyrano.)

Cyrano (making two steps toward De Guiche, and with a gesture presenting the cadets)

A Cadet (entering, with a string of old battered plumed beaver hats, full of holes, slung on his sword)

Cyrano (taking the sword and, with a salute, dropping the hats at De Guiche’s feet)

(De Guiche goes out, and climbs into his chair. The other lords go away whispering together. Le Bret goes to the door with them. The crowd disperses.)

Scene Eight

Cyrano, Le Bret, the cadets, who are eating and drinking at the tables to right and left.

(Christian has just entered, and mingled with the cadets, who do not speak to him; he has seated himself at a table, where Lise serves him.)

Scene Nine

Another (who, while is turned towards the first cadet, has meanwhile approached noiselessly to sit on the table, behind him)

Another (in a hollow voice, darting on all-fours from under the table, where he had crept)

(Silence. All, with crossed arms, look at Christian. He rises and goes over to Carbon de Castel-Jaloux, who is talking to an officer, and feigns to see nothing.)

(All bring their stools up, and group round him, listening eagerly. Christian is astride a chair.)

(Silence. All slowly rise, looking in terror at Cyrano, who has stopped dumbfounded. Pause.)

(All the Gascons leap up to see, but when he is close to Christian he controls himself and continues.)

Christian (tweaking his own nose significantly, note that Pif means nose, conk, schnozzle in French as well as the sound of a whack!)

(All have gone out by different doors, some by the staircase. Cyrano and Christian are face to face, looking at each other for a moment.)

Scene Ten

Scene Eleven

(General delight. The cadets have found the old Cyrano again! They turn somersaults.)

Act Three

A small square in the old Marais. Old houses. A perspective of little streets. On the right Roxane’s house and her garden wall overhung with thick foliage. A window and balcony above the door. A bench in front.

From the bench and the stones jutting out of the wall it is easy to climb to the balcony.

Facing, an old house in the same style of brick and stone. The knocker of this door is bandaged with linen like a sore thumb.

Ragueneau is standing near the door in a sort of livery. He has just finished relating something to the duenna, and is wiping his eyes.

Scene One

Scene Two

Scene Three

Scene Four

Scene Five

Roxane (coming out of Clomire’s house, with a group of friends, whom she leaves. Bows and good-byes)

(All bow to Roxane and to each other, and then separate, going up different streets. Roxane suddenly seeing Christian)

Scene Six

Scene Seven

(Roxane shuts the window. Cyrano listens to the lutes, one of which plays a lively, the other an unhappy, tune.)

(Enter a Capuchin friar, with a lantern. He goes from house to house, looking at every door.)

Scene Eight

Scene Nine

Scene Ten

(Christian springs forward, and by means of the bench, the branches, and the pillars, climbs to the balcony and over it.)

Scene Eleven

Roxane (appearing on the threshold, followed by Ragueneau, who carries a lantern, and Christian)

The Friar (turning the light on to him, and as if a doubt struck him on seeing his beauty)

(While Ragueneau opens the door, and Christian invites the friar to enter, she whispers to Cyrano.)

(He is on the balcony, pulls his hat over his eyes, takes off his sword, wraps himself in his cloak, then leans over.)

(He strides across the balcony, and pulling a long branch of one of the trees by the garden wall, towards himself, he hangs on with both hands, ready to

Scene Twelve

(He is about to enter, when Cyrano leaps from the balcony, holding on to the branch, which bends, depositing him between De Guiche and the door: he pretends to fall heavily, as from a great height, and lies flat on the ground, motionless, as if stunned. De Guiche starts back.)

(When he looks up, the branch has sprung back into its place. He sees only the sky, and is lost in amazement.)

Cyrano (just as he is about to pass, holds out his leg as if to show him something and stops him)

(Hurriedly preventing De Guiche from passing, and detaining him by the button of his doublet)

(De Guiche has succeeded in getting by, and goes toward Roxane’s door. Cyrano follows him, ready to stop him by force.)

Cyrano (who, while speaking, has drawn him to the other side of the square near a bench)

(The house-door opens. Servants appear carrying lighted candelabra. Lights. Cyrano gracefully takes off his hat.)

(He turns round. Tableau. Behind the servants Roxane and Christian appear, holding each other’s hand. The friar follows, smiling. Ragueneau too, holding a candlestick. The duenna brings up the rear, bewildered, having dressed hastily.)

Scene Thirteen

Act Four

The post occupied by Carbon de Castel-Jaloux’s company at the siege of Arras.

In the background an embankment, across the whole stage. Beyond, a view of the plain extending to the horizon. The country is covered with entrenchments. The walls of Arras and the outlines of its roofs against the sky, far off. Tents: weapons strewn about, drums, etc. Day is breaking with a yellow sky in the east. Sentries, spaced about. Watch-fires. The Gascony Cadets wrapped in their mantles, are sleeping. Carbon de Castel-Jaloux and Le Bret are keeping watch. They are very pale and thin. Christian sleeps among the others in his cloak in the foreground, his face illuminated by the fire. Silence.

Scene One

Scene Two

The day is breaking. Rosy light. The town of Arras shows golden on the horizon. The report of a cannon is heard in the distance, followed immediately by the beating of drums far away to the left. Other drums are heard much nearer. The drums go on answering each other here and there, they near, beat loudly almost on stage, and die away to stage right, across the camp. Sounds of stirring in the camp. Voices of officers in the distance.

Scene Three

Cyrano (appearing from the tent, very calm, with a pen stuck behind his ear and a book in his hand)

(The cadets sit with bowed heads; their eyes have a far-off look as if dreaming, and they surreptitiously wipe away their tears with their cuffs and the corner of their cloaks.)

(All begin spreading out the games on the drums, the stools, the ground, and their cloaks, and light long pipes.)

(He walks up and down, reading a little book that he has taken from his pocket. Tableau. Enter De Guiche. All appear absorbed and happy. He is very pale. He goes up to Carbon.)

Scene Four

(The cadets pretend not to be listening, but the cards and the dice-boxes remain suspended in their hands, the smoke of their pipes in their cheeks. They wait.)

(Silence. The cadets stifle their laughter among their cards and dice-boxes. De Guiche turns and looks at them: they instantly become grave, and prepare to play. One of them whistles the air just played by the piper, indifferently.)

(He goes to the rampart, climbs it, and waves the scarf in the air several times.)

(De Guiche speaks to Carbon in a low voice, at the rear of the stage. Orders are given. Preparations commence. Cyrano goes up to Christian, who stands with arms crossed.)

(The carriage enters at full speed covered with dust and mud. The curtains are drawn close. Two servants behind. It is pulled up suddenly.)

(All are bowing to the ground, but at the sound of a woman’s voice every head is instantly raised.)

Scene Five

Cyrano (who, at the sound of her voice, has stood still, rooted to the ground, afraid to raise his eyes)

Scene Six

Carbon (who, like the others, has been buckling, dusting, brushing his hat, settling his plume, and drawing on his cuffs, advances to Roxane, and ceremoniously)

(Roxane bows, and stands leaning on Christian’s arm, while Carbon introduces the cadets to her.)

(She lays it all out on the grass, aided by the two imperturbable servants who were behind the carriage.)

(Hubbub. They tear open and turn out the contents of the cushions. Bursts of laughter-merriment.)

Cyrano (who follows her, his arms laden with dishes, helping her to wait on everybody)

Le Bret (who had gone up to pass a loaf on the end of a lance to the sentry on the rampart)

(In the twinkling of an eye everything has been pushed into the tents, or hidden under doublets, cloaks, and hats. - De Guiche enters hurriedly - stops suddenly, sniffing the air. - Silence.)

Scene Seven

Carbon (crimson in the face, hiding a bottle behind his back, with an evasive movement)

De Guiche (shrugging his shoulders and pushing him away, then going quickly to Roxane)

Carbon De Castel-Jaloux (who had disappeared behind the rampart, reappearing on the ridge)

(She accepts, and they go up toward the rampart. All uncover and follow them.)

(As Roxane appears on the ridge, the tops of the lances disappear, lowered for the salute, and a shout is raised. She bows.)

Scene Eight

Roxane, Christian. In the distance cadets coming and going. Carbon and De Guiche give orders.

Scene Nine

Scene Ten

Roxane, Cyrano. Then Le Bret, Carbon de Castel-Jaloux, the cadets, Ragueneau, De Guiche, etc.

(Some cadets enter, trying to hide something they are carrying, and close ranks to prevent Roxane approaching.)

(Roxane flings herself down by Christian. Fresh reports of cannon - clash of arms – clamour - beating of drums.)

Cyrano (quickly, whispering into Christian’s ear, while Roxane distractedly tears a piece of linen from his breast, which she dips into the water, trying to stanch the bleeding)

De Guiche (appearing on the ramparts – bareheaded - with a wound on his forehead - in a voice of thunder)

Ragueneau (standing on the top of his carriage, watches the battle over the edge of the ramparts)

(Calling out to Roxane, whom De Guiche, aided by Ragueneau, is bearing away in a fainting condition)

(Tumult. Shouts. Cadets reappear, wounded, falling on the scene. Cyrano, rushing to the battle, is stopped by Carbon de Castel-Jaloux, who is streaming with blood.)

(They leap down, Cyrano brandishing the lance to which is attached Roxane’s handkerchief.)

(The fife plays. The wounded rise. Some cadets, falling one over the other down the slope, group themselves round Cyrano and the little flag. The carriage is crowded with men inside and outside, and, bristling with muskets, is turned into a redoubt.)

A Cadet (appearing on the crest, beaten backward, but still fighting, cries out)

(The rampart is covered instantly by a formidable row of enemies. The standards of the Spanish Empire are raised.)

Act Five

Fifteen years later, in 1655, the Park of the Convent that the Sisters of the Holy Cross occupy in Paris.

Magnificent trees. On the left the house: broad steps onto which open several doors. An enormous plane tree in the middle of the stage, standing alone. On the right, among big boxwood trees, a semicircular stone bench.

The whole background of the stage is crossed by an alley of chestnut trees leading on the right hand to the door of a chapel seen through the branches. Through the double row of trees of this alley are seen lawns, other alleys, clusters of trees, the depths of the park, the sky.

The chapel opens by a little side door on to a colonnade which is wreathed with autumn vine leaves, and is lost to view a little farther on in the right-hand foreground behind the boxwood.

It is autumn. All the foliage is red against the fresh green of the lawns. The green boxwood and yews stand out dark. Under each tree a patch of yellow leaves. The stage is strewn with dead leaves, which rustle under foot in the alleys, and half cover the steps and benches.

Between the bench on the right and the tree a large embroidery frame, in front of which a little chair has been set. Baskets full of skeins and balls of wool. A tapestry begun.

As the curtain rises, nuns are walking to and fro in the park; some are seated on the bench around an older Sister. The leaves are falling.

‘Entrance to the Convent of the French Capuchins in Athens’
Charles Meryon, Jacques-Philippe Le Bas, Auguste Delâtre, 1854, The Rijksmuseum

Scene One

(In an alley at the back Roxane appears, dressed in black, with a widow’s coif and veil. De Guiche, imposing-looking and visibly aged, walks by her side. They saunter slowly. Mother Marguérite rises.)

(They go out. De Guiche and Roxane come forward in silence, and stop close to the embroidery frame.)

Scene Two

Roxane, the Duke de Grammont, formerly Comte de Guiche. Then Le Bret and Ragueneau.

Scene Three

Roxane (appearing on the steps, and seeing Le Bret go away by the colonnade leading to the chapel door)

Scene Four

(She seats herself at the embroidery frame. Two sisters come out of the house, and bring a large armchair under the tree.)

Scene Five

(She embroiders. Cyrano appears, very pale, his hat pulled down over his eyes. The sister who had announced him retires. He descends the steps slowly, with visible difficulty in holding himself upright, bearing heavily on his cane. Roxane still works at her tapestry.)

Cyrano (who has succeeded in reaching the chair, and has seated himself - in a lively voice, which makes a great contrast with his pale face)

(He shuts his eyes, and is silent for a moment. Sister Martha crosses the park from the chapel to the flight of steps. Roxane, seeing her, signs to her to approach.)

(He pretends to be seeking for something to tease her with, and to have found it.)

Roxane (surprised at his voice ceasing, turns round, looks at him, and rising, terrified)

(He sees Roxane bending over him, and, hastily pressing his hat on his head, and shrinking back in his chair)

(She comes nearer very softly, without his perceiving it, passes behind his chair, and, noiselessly leaning over him, looks at the letter. The darkness deepens.)

(He starts, turns, sees her close to him. Suddenly alarmed, he holds his head down. Then in the dusk, which has now completely enfolded them, she says, very slowly, with clasped hands)

‘Edmond Rostand: Cyrano de Bergerac - Before the Final Scene’
L'ILLUSTRATION, 8 January 1898, Wikimedia Commons

Scene Six

(The chapel-bell chimes. The nuns are seen passing down the alley at the back, to perform their offices.)

(He has fallen back in his chair: Roxane’s sobbing recalls him to reality; he gazes at her, and touches her veil)

(The sword falls from his hand; he staggers, and falls back into the arms of Le Bret and Ragueneau.)

Cyrano (opening his eyes, recognizing her, and smiling as he speaks: the actor must try to convey the multiple meanings of the word panache, a feather, the plume in his hat, display, swagger, attack, or just spirit.)

About the Author

‘Edmond Rostand, Aged 29, at the First Performance of Cyrano de Bergerac’
L'ILLUSTRATION, 8 January 1898, Wikimedia Commons

Edmond Rostand, the French poet and dramatist, usually associated with neo-romanticism, was born in 1868 in Marseille, into a distinguished and wealthy family. His early poetry and plays achieved modest success, but it was the creation of his mock-heroic drama Cyrano de Bergerac, in 1897, with the great French actor Coquelin playing the title role, that brought him wider fame. A later play L’Aiglon, concerning the unhappy life of Napoleon’s son, the Duke of Reichstadt, produced and performed by Sarah Bernhardt, at her own theatre, in 1900, was also well received. Rostand moved to live in the French Basque country during the 1900’s, seeking a favourable climate for the pulmonary disease with which he was afflicted, and became a victim of the flu pandemic at the close of World War I, dying in 1918. He is buried in Marseille.

About the Translator

Anthony Kline lives in England. He graduated in Mathematics from the University of Manchester, and was Chief Information Officer (Systems Director) of a large UK Company, before dedicating himself to his literary work and interests. He was born in 1947. His work consists of translations of poetry; critical works, biographical history with poetry as a central theme; and his own original poetry. He has translated into English from Latin, Ancient Greek, Classical Chinese and the European languages. He also maintains a deep interest in developments in Mathematics and the Sciences.

He continues to write predominantly for the Internet, making all works available in download format, with an added focus on the rapidly developing area of electronic books. His most extensive works are complete translations of Ovid's Metamorphoses and Dante's Divine Comedy.

Cyrano De Bergerac

About This Work

Contents

Act One: A Theatrical Production at The Hotel Burgundy

Act Two: The Poets' Pastry Shop

Act Three: Roxane's Kiss

Act Four: The Gascony Cadets

Act Five: Cyrano's Gazette

The Characters

Act One

Scene One

Scene Two

Scene Three

Scene Four

Scene Five

Scene Six

Scene Seven

Act Two

Scene One

Scene Two

Scene Three

Scene Four

Scene Five

Scene Six

Scene Seven

Scene Eight

Scene Nine

Scene Ten

Scene Eleven

Act Three

Scene One

Scene Two

Scene Three

Scene Four

Scene Five

Scene Six

Scene Seven

Scene Eight

Scene Nine

Scene Ten

Scene Eleven

Scene Twelve

Scene Thirteen

Act Four

Scene One

Scene Two

Scene Three

Scene Four

Scene Five

Scene Six

Scene Seven

Scene Eight

Scene Nine

Scene Ten

Act Five

Scene One

Scene Two

Scene Three

Scene Four

Scene Five

Scene Six

About the Author

About the Translator