CYRANO DE BERGERAC by Edmond Rostand

“Philosopher . . . physicist . . . poet . . . swordsman. . . musician . . .sky voyager . . . great debater. . . lover, too, not for his own good. Here lies Hercules-Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac, who did everything and did nothing.” - Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac From the New York Times The Play Project Gutenberg’s complete text of the play. An easily modified online etext at Classic Bookshelf. eNotes has a downloadable enhanced .pdf file version. Theater Resources Digital Dramaturgy at Baltimore Center Stage is an excellent website with background materials on the character and times of the play. Sections include Larger Than Life -- the true story behind the character Glimpses of 17th-century France -- historical background includes excellent images of costumes and settings The Mastery of Language -- focuses on the importance of language to the play and some background on the French Academy Cyranoses -- fascinating gallery of the various ways the Nose has been portrayed on stage and in film Behind the Scenes -- discussion of staging the play that includes three videos as illustrations Press Center -- reviews of the play in Baltimore. PBS Great Performances includes a video of Act III, scene vi. Trinity Rep in Rhode Island has provided a 50+ page guide with extensive activities covering background, costuming and staging. Utah Shakespeare Festival has an interesting online guide that includes three critical articles on Optimistic Idealism, Romantic Melodrama, and Heroic Comedy or Romantic Tragedy. Assignments & Handouts Design a poster for the play Cyrano de Bergerac, using any scene or character monologue as the basis for your idea. To begin, look over each of the posters shown below. What do you learn about each show from the poster? Which posters are you most interested in? Why? Which poster makes you want to come see the show? What is the function of the poster in the artistic process? Create a poster you feel best represents the play, using any variety of creative materials. Include the following criteria on the poster: Name of Play: Cyrano de Bergerac Playwright’s Name: Edmond Rostand Director’s Name: Pick a director who suits style of your poster, living or dead Actors: Cast the main parts Website: Make up a creative choice Select a piece of artwork inspired by the play and write a critical paragraph analyzing it. Your topic sentence should state clearly the effect of the artwork. The details you use in your paragraph should explain how that effect is created. Be sure to include title and artist (if known). Wouldn’t Cyrano make a wonderful spokesman? With such style, he could lend his panache to certain products. Design a print advertisement for an appropriate product. Be sure to include some visual or verbal reference to the play. Four Translations - Activity that asks students to analyze and compare four different translations of the same scene. Great way to focus on diction and syntax. Act by Act: Study Questions and Writing Assignments. Also available as a Word document and as a PDF file. Plot Diagram in French -- interesting way to review and translate. Essay Assignments for the Play -- Collected from several sources. Projects for the Play -- Eight creative culminating group projects. Best worksheets from Teacher Materials Body Biography (simplified) Cyrano Is... Journals Paper Bag Puppets Performance & Rubric Sayings & Phrases Vocabulary What a Character Who Am I Video Clips Video Clips are .mp4 and may not play in Safari. If you hae problems, please use Chrome or Firefox. Baylor University has a short Commercial for their University Theater Production that is a good introduction to the play. The trailer for the 1950 Jose Ferrer movie gives a good overview of the story. This clip from Derek Jacobi’s 1985 Royal Shakespeare Society performance, is the “Ah” Scene -- perfect for discussions of tone. I also show the same scene from other versions and have students compare and contrast. Siskel & Ebert review the 1987 Depardieu film and focus on the language. New York Metropolitan Opera trailer sets the mood for the play, includes excellent subtitles. Ah, Placido Domingo.		Just for Fun Can’t write your own love letters? Let Cyrano serve you. The Cyrano Server, now defunct, was an online service that would write both love and break-up letters for you.The site used a MadLibs approach to construction. Teacher Materials Cyrano de Bergerac: Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder Lesson Plans for Cyrano approach the play through a discussion of what beauty is for men and for women. Jeana Rock, the teacher who developed the unit, has some great ideas for accessing and using music videos, song lyrics, film adaptations, social media accounts as a way of engaging students. Uses Brad Paisley’s “Online” music video to introduce unit, available on YouTube. What Is Beauty Handout Sample Definition Essays Film Adaptation Assignment Creating a MySpace Account for a Fictional Character (screenshots included) Three full units with 10 lessons and relevant handouts, developed for seventh grade but useful for older students as well -- The Play’s the Thing: The Drama of Cyrano de Bergerac Cyrano de Bergerac: Understanding Drama Through Characterization and Dialogue Cyrano Nose His Terms: Studying Drama Through Literary Terms and Elements of Fiction Cummings Study Guide is extensive, especially good on tracing various allusions in the play. Enriched Classics has an excellent group research project associated with the play. Model Reviews -- *New Yorker* of Broadway performance and *Sydney Morning Herald* of Biography. The Glencoe Literature Library 30-page guide includes activities and worksheets for every act, with a strong focus on active reading. Excellent. The Signet Teacher Guide incudes activities, discussion questions, and deeper analysis. The Shmoop Guide for the play is insightful and seductive. It could easily serve as an introduction to the reading. Always interesting is the Shmoop “ Why Should I Care?” answer -- not usually the expected answer. Also covers symbolism, tone, writing style, title, genre, and plot analysis (classic Freytag’s Pyramid and Booker’s Seven Basic Archetypal Plots). The Best of the Web Resources page links to videos and art files. Online “cheat sheet” guides -- Book Rags, Cliff Notes,GradeSaver, Novelguide, or SparkNotes. **Cyrano & Roxanne Cyrano & Roxanne** --Viewing guide and essay assignment comparing and contrasting Cyrano de Bergerac and Roxanne. The famous Nose Speech from Roxanne. Video clip of the “Twenty Something Betters” (actually 25). Both are a little racey, maybe PG-13ish. Cyrano Paraphrase - vocabulary activity based on sentences from reviews of Roxanne. Viewing Guide for Cyrano -- Worksheet to take comparison/contrast notes and culminating essay activity. Trailer for the Movie -- overview could almost serve as a review of Cyrano, as well as an introduction to Roxanne. Essay Test on Both Not as clever as Roxanne, but still derived from Cyrano de Bergerac, *The Truth about Cats and Dogs* demonstrates the similarity in its trailer.
Two Recent Versions of Cyrano
James McAvoy’s 2019 Stage Performance Jamie Lloyd’s production uses everything from rap and beat-boxing to poetry slam mics front of stage. Martin Crimp adapts Rostand’s Alexandrine verse with modern parlance and street slang. James McAvoy’s Cyrano raps in a Scottish accent, in leather and denim, unencumbered by an exaggerated nose. And it kind of works. Not the usual elegant period production, it’s intensity may appeal to our students. Reviews New York Times -- “James McAvoy’s Rapping Cyrano Dazzles With Words” by Ben Brantley (pdf). The Guardian -- “James McAvoy Is Fierce in Radical Reboot of Romantic Classic” by Michael Billington (pdf). Hollywood Reporter -- Theater Review by Demetrios Matheou (pdf). *Theatre Times* -- Theatre Review by Mert Dilek Video Clips Official National Theatre Trailer West End Trailer Proposition Scene Cyrano’s Seduction Speech to Roxane McAvoy Interview on Cyrano National Theatre Digital Download of full stage performance ($18.00). Martin Crimp Script available on Amazon (Kindle & paperback).		Peter Dinklage’s 2022 Movie Musical Performance Opening in movie theaters February 22, Joe Wright’s Cyrano is not a direct adaptation of Rostand’s play, but a screen translation of Erica Schmidt’s stage musical, which ran in 2018 with Peter Dinklage (her real life husband) playing Cyrano. In this version, Cyrano de Bergerac is not a man with an outrageously large nose, but a man of short stature. Reviews New York Times -- “Peter Dinklage Tackles ‘Cyrano’ Without the Nose” by Ben Brantley (pdf). Variety -- “A Dashing Peter Dinklage Offers a Fresh Spin on a Romantic Classic” by Peter Debruge (pdf). *Vanity Fair* -- *“Joe Wright Wanted to Make Something ‘Really Beautiful’ During a Pandemic -- So Here Comes Cyrano”* (pdf). Video Clips Official Movie Trailer Behind the Scenes Official Movie Soundtrack -- 27 songs. Official Movie Website Dinklage Leslie Stahl Interview Erica Schmidt Full Screenplay

Updated 9 February 2022 If you download or print anything from this site, please consider making at least a $10.00 donation through PayPal. I can maintain and expand this website only with your help. Back to Assignments or Home.