TV star Virgia Gay predicts the Wtern Atralian Amy of Performg Arts’ move to Yagan Square will transform Perth’s arts scene.
Contents:
- VIRGIA GAY PREDICTS WAAPA LOTN MOVE WILL TRANSFORM PERTH CY
- VIRGIA GAY SHAR WHY SHE FELT PELLED TO MAKE ‘CYRANO’
- VIRGIA GAY’S CYRANO IS A TONIC FOR MORN TIM
- ‘SHE WAS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT’: ACTOR VIRGIA GAY ON HER MOTHER’S VALUABLE ADVICE
- CYRANO REVIEW – VIRGIA GAY’S MT-SEE BOUNDARY PHG CELEBRATN OF LOVE
- VIRGIA GAY ON GROWG UP A MIL HOEHOLD
- VIRGIA GAY: WHAT AWARD-WNG ACTOR IS WATCHG ON TV THIS WEEK
- VIRGIA GAY: I HAVE NO TERT GETTG MARRIED UNTIL WE HAVE MARRIAGE EQUALY
VIRGIA GAY PREDICTS WAAPA LOTN MOVE WILL TRANSFORM PERTH CY
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EntertamentArtsWA NewsAndrei HarmsworthThe Wt AtralianTue, 18 July 2023 2:00AMCommentsCommentsPremiumTV star Virgia Gay predicts the Wtern Atralian Amy of Performg Arts’ move to Yagan Square will transform Perth’s arts graduated om Edh Cowan’s prtig arts school 2005 and was immediately snapped up her breakout role on h show All Sats.
Actor and wrer Virgia Gay will take to the stage this week to prent her acclaimed versn of the classic story of Cyrano Bererac, the man wh an enormo nose who helps his iend Christian fd the right words to ga the heart of the betiful Roxanne. Gay’s updated take on the tale of the famo romantic se the part genr flipped as she be the secret wordsmh. Graeme Watson ught up wh Virgia Gay ahead of the play’s openg night at Black Swan State Theatre Company to chat about why she felt pelled to create a new and very different versn of Edmond Rostand’s play om 1897.
VIRGIA GAY SHAR WHY SHE FELT PELLED TO MAKE ‘CYRANO’
Virgia Gay is an Atralian actrs and wrer, who has played a diverse number of rol across stage and screen. She has gaed fame for her actg * virginia gay perth *
That trope of ‘kill your gays’.
VIRGIA GAY’S CYRANO IS A TONIC FOR MORN TIM
Acclaimed stage and screen star Virgia Gay is ont and centre SBS’ excellent new four-part seri, Safe Home. But when she’s not starrg on TV, she’s watchg at home like the rt of ! * virginia gay perth *
I feel like women’s bodi are judged tenfold more than for men, but maybe ls for gay men.
‘SHE WAS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT’: ACTOR VIRGIA GAY ON HER MOTHER’S VALUABLE ADVICE
Cyrano starrg Virga Gay opens at the State Theatre Centre on Sunday and ns through to 5th March. Tags: cyrano, virgia gay.
That’s the msage Virgia Gay’s approach to Cyrano Bergerac, 19th century novelist Edmond Rostand’s French classic tale; she has so glorly msed wh that her upbeat Cyrano seems certa to be a major h of this Perth Ftival. Gay’s adro take on a tale about a lovelorn man wh a giant nose is fully-formed, even when the play opens wh a ic tr of hired extras mg about what form exactly the play will take. In Gay’s reworkg, the swashbucklg, overweeng male Cyrano of yteryear is replaced – and acted – by herself.
Much has been wrten about the “genr-flippg” nature of this productn, yet the succs of Gay’s wrg is that the verbal scriptns of Cyrano’s supersized nose – which we don’t actually see this versn – so easily translate the viewer’s md to a metaphor for all kds of self-loathg, triggered by societal taboos over sex or body shape.
CYRANO REVIEW – VIRGIA GAY’S MT-SEE BOUNDARY PHG CELEBRATN OF LOVE
As Gay herself observ, “if you have a femist and a queer woman wrg this story, and wrg about and for a Roxanne who is gasl, tfished and manipulated by another woman, then be very difficult”.
Joel Jackson (L) plays Yan to hilar effect, while Virgia Gay (R) is the star of the show. Gay manag to prod a few old social mor whout upendg the show. Directn by Sarah Goos is as assured as Gay’s wrg, as is mil directn by Xani Kolac.
But the star of the show is Gay, whose TV creds alone clu All Sats, Wners & Losers, and Savage River. Gay has done a sharp u-turn the way she ends the play, after rejectg Cyrano’s bleak battlefield ath the origal story. Pictured top: Virigia Gay and Zenya Carmelotti ‘Cyrano’.
VIRGIA GAY ON GROWG UP A MIL HOEHOLD
This week, he talks to Virgia Gay. Virgia Gay: “If I’m datg a man and he has a problem wh me earng more money than him, I’m like, ‘I don’t see this as a problem’.
It’s somethg I’m explorg Cyrano [a genr-flipped retellg, by Gay, of Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play, Cyrano Bergerac]: the ia of beg tght that if I were jt prettier and ls chatty, would be better for urse, Cyrano is not pretty and only has words. The purpose and power of words is explored to pch perfect edic effect Cyrano, Virgia Gay’s genr-flipped reimagg of the story of Cyrano Bergerac.
Virgia Gay and director Sarah Goos know that we know the narrative of Cyrano well enough to shake up a b and do so by havg Cyrano open wh the act of fiantly smashg down the fourth wall and pullg the dience pletely to the narrative of the story.
VIRGIA GAY: WHAT AWARD-WNG ACTOR IS WATCHG ON TV THIS WEEK
The divi between major characters, Cyrano (Gay), be-to-be Roxanne (Tuuli Narkle), hunk-whout-a-bra Yan (Joel Jackson), and seasoned chos members, 1 (Zenya Carmellotti) and 2 (Rob Goldsworthy), and the excedly anx 3 (Holly At), is clearly fed, yet by the rapturo sparkly close the fi the tragedy of the origal text, that divisn is disrd the name of joy and posivy. In this way, Gay’s script dismantl the notn we see so equently ment sectns onle where people react to cricisms about cel edic jok wh foolish remarks like, ‘learn how to take a joke’ or lamentg about the lack of meang edic acts om the past wh notns that ‘everythg is so PC nowadays’. Buildg om the foundatn of explorg physil inty, Gay’s script then manovr to explorg sexual inty.
VIRGIA GAY: I HAVE NO TERT GETTG MARRIED UNTIL WE HAVE MARRIAGE EQUALY
At s re, Cyrano is a love story, and Gay’s script giv fertile ground for one of the year’s most lightful and lirly joyo love stori to play out. Gay’s script ially leans to the trop and stereotyp of the figur, wh both Joel Jackson and Tuuli Narkle amplifyg and playg up the dzy Pilbara God angle and the ethereal bety stance rpectively, but as we wns how Roxanne crav Yan’s physily and sways motn wh Cyrano’s md, we also get to learn how Yan se the world and is challenged by the brilliant mds around him. (L-R) Joel Jackson, Tuuli Narkle, Rob Goldsworthy, Holly At, Zenya Carmellotti, Virgia Gay,.
While on paper, they are playg Cyrano, Yan, 3, or Roxanne, the meta-qualy of Gay’s script means that they are also workg agast the origal text. This is, ultimately, a play that refut the need for tragedy, nounc the ‘kill your gays’ trope, and choos love over spair, choos hope over harrowg heartbreak.