Review: Cyrano de Puppet

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The script of Cyrano de Puppet made a very bold assumption when it stated that I’d probably seen an iteration of Cyrano de Bergerac before. You doubt how culturally uneducated I am, and how vehemently I used to avoid theatre productions.

However, this detracted nothing from the production whatsoever.

Cyrano de Puppet, written by Kilda Kennedy, is (funnily enough) an adaptation of Edmund Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac reimagined with the occasional puppet, which poses you the age old dilemma of being hot versus being smart. Personally, this is a conundrum I consider most weeks while looking at Lea Michele’s buccal fat removal results, so this show really hit home for me.

Cyrano de Puppet’s promotional photo of Roxanne (Piper Richardson) and Christian (Lewis Fitez) around the shows puppet stand
The production, amazingly directed by Lara Thain and produced by Bethan Chalmers, opened with a cutesy, well decorated, puppet theatre, artfully performed in by Louise Mountbatten-Windsor, who with the rest of the ensemble, provided amazing entertainment and excellent sword fighting for the duration of the performance. Continuing in an absurdly endearing fashion, we are taken through the tragic tale of Cyrano de Bergerac (played by Thomas Scott), as he gets cockblocked by Christian the puppet (Lewis Fitez) while writing sick bars for Roxanne, the love interest of this story. Personally, I think going to see the show is worth it for Roxanne’s (Piper Richardson) hair alone, rivalled only by that of the puppets.

Roxanne (Piper Richardson) stares longingly off stage, while Cyrano (Thomas Scott) and Christian (Lewis Fitez) try to win her over with their words
Other standout performances include Mackenzie Galbraith’s De Guiche, who manages to make a conversation with a sock puppet about lunar dairy produce seem like a reasonable thing that could happen. I particularly enjoyed the mildly homoerotic standoff between De Guiche and Cyrano, and almost wished that the story went in that direction instead. Emily Speed’s portrayal of Le Bret is also very much worth watching, as a surprisingly wholesome, if violent, friend to Cyrano.

Overall, Cyrano de Puppet is absolutely worth getting a ticket for tomorrow (24/10/23.) What else are you actually doing on your Tuesday nights, realistically? With a wonderful cast, production team, and a classic story worth sticking around for, what’s not to like?

If anything, go to answer this question: what the fuck is a puppet doing on the ceiling?

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erin