Cyrano by Virgia Gay after Edmond Rostand - Black Swan State Theatre

Contents:

• VIRGIA GAY ON THE CHALLENGE OF QUEERG CYRANO: ‘I DON’T WANT A TRAGEDY RIGHT NOW’
• CYRANO REVIEW – VIRGIA GAY SH THIS BOLD, QUEER REIMAGG
• HELLISH: COVID-19 AND A BROKEN HEART FUEL VIRGIA GAY’S NEW-LOOK CYRANO
• ‘SHE WAS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT’: ACTOR VIRGIA GAY ON HER MOTHER’S VALUABLE ADVICE
• MTC PRENTS CYRANO, A GENR-FLIPPED MIL ADAPTATN BY VIRGIA GAY

VIRGIA GAY ON THE CHALLENGE OF QUEERG CYRANO: ‘I DON’T WANT A TRAGEDY RIGHT NOW’

It’s also somethg Virgia Gay has spas, an actor who shot to natnal fame televisn shows such as All Sats and Wners & Losers, but whose pth of talent is bt experienced live on stage.

“When you do whout a nose, ” Gay explas, “ be abundantly clear that this is the most tertg person on stage, but they have cid that, for some reason, they are not worthy of love” urse, when you st a woman the role, that “some reason” tak on a distctly queer ronance.

CYRANO REVIEW – VIRGIA GAY SH THIS BOLD, QUEER REIMAGG

Stg the dience for the first half of the play, Gay thought: “I have to play this role. ”Virgia Gay on playg Cyrano: ‘When you do whout a nose, be abundantly clear that this is the most tertg person on stage. I won’t be a part of a story that says, ‘kill your gays’.

” Which is not to say that gay characters n’t partake the tharsis that om high tragedy; Gay simply don’t thk that’s what dienc want the midst of a global crisis. ” So Gay did, surg every adaptatn (cludg unofficial film versns such as Roxanne and The Tth About Cats and Dogs) for the aspects of the story she wanted to foreground.

HELLISH: COVID-19 AND A BROKEN HEART FUEL VIRGIA GAY’S NEW-LOOK CYRANO

“The first three acts of Cyrano are prototypil rom-, ” Gay says. “If you have a femist and a queer woman wrg this story, and wrg about and for a Roxane who is gasl, tfished and manipulated by another woman, ” Gay extrapolat, “then be very difficult” answer was to bolster and empower the role of Roxane, so that she be a te equal to Cyrano, able to parry and thst the war of ws. Goos believ the same will happen wh Gay.

And Melbourne’s tentative, almost reticent return to the theatre is echoed the stcture of Gay’s adaptatn: “Six actors return to the theatre and try to remember how to put on a show, bate the rponsibili of tellg this story. ”Gay wrote her Cyrano while sufferg om Covid Los Angel – “a tly rotten 14 days of tense pa” – and the rult is a work fed wh the sensatn of spend longg, but also of hope fulfilled. Virgia Gay livers a joyful, genr-flipped retellg of Cyrano Bergerac.

Script velopment of Cyrano by Virgia Gay (after Edmond Rostand) has been assisted by the Atralian Government through the Atralia Council for the Arts, Sydney Ftival and the NSW Government through Create NSW and the Cy of Melbourne COVID-19 Arts Grants. Virgia Gay. Zsuzsa Gaynor Mihaly.

‘SHE WAS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT’: ACTOR VIRGIA GAY ON HER MOTHER’S VALUABLE ADVICE

Melbourne Theatre Company’s queered versn of this classic, wrten by and starrg the charismatic Virgia Gay (Calamy Jane), was set to premiere 2021, but was scuppered by a snap lockdown announced jt three hours before openg night.

MTC PRENTS CYRANO, A GENR-FLIPPED MIL ADAPTATN BY VIRGIA GAY

This eratn of Cyrano is built brick by brick real time by a Greek chos of unnamed supportg characters (Holly At, Milo Hartill and Rob Goldsworthy), who assist Gay’s Cyrano cidg how she wants to realise her own versn of events. Gay’s genr-flipped remake clus no such physil tra, but ’s a strange cisn to keep referenc to – one monologue has her riffg madly on big nose jok.

The play remas a edy of errors but, aga wh Gay’s ntemporary polics, more agency is given to the characters that were tradnally ed as props. But due to the fluctuatns language and non-era-specific stumg (cludg athleisurewear and roller skat for Roxanne’s grand entrance), n be nfg knowg exactly when this play is supposed to be set – has a morn spir, but seems to go back and forth Jabbour as Yan and Gay as Cyrano. This bizarre choice is probably the productn’s biggt misstep, but do build some rapport wh the past newsletter promotnafter newsletter promotnGay’s Cyrano is more rom than tragedy, buildg up to a sequence which the protagonist vis her way to apologise, and then get the girl.