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Cyrano de Bergerac

The Haymarket

Basingstoke

Until Saturday February 16

WITH the first two performances of Guy Slater's Cyrano de Bergerac having been cancelled due to the ill-health (and lost voice) of the leading man, the atmosphere in the theatre for last night's debut performance was electric.

As the show commenced and the actors emerged from the back and sides of the theatre, an excited murmur finally quietened, allowing proceedings to get fully under way.

When Oscar Pearce, as Cyrano, finally made his entrance, all present were reassured by the undoubted power of his voice, as he interrupted someone on the stage within the stage and stamped his authority all over the production from the get-go.

Cyrano de Bergerac makes for a superb night out at the theatre, given that it's a musing on the nature of love, loyalty, sacrifice and death. The innate wit of the work shines through at The Haymarket, where the audience laughed - almost maniacally at times - to witness Cyrano's incredible self-deprecation and willingness to sacrifice his own happiness, despite otherwise being a force of nature.

The narrative's momentum comes courtesy of Cyrano's agreeing to help the rather dense Christian (Oliver Stoney) to woo Cyrano's cousin, Roxanne (who Rhiannon Oliver makes into a beautifully appealing character, despite her lack of insight), with whom Cyrano is himself in love.

As Cyrano expresses it, "With your looks and my wit we'll make the perfect hero", and Roxanne is inevitably seduced. But we can only wait for the moment when she'll surely see who she's really been falling in love with.

Thanks largely to the powerhouse that is Oscar Pearce, it is blissful agony to regard the evolution of this thwarted passion.

Director Guy Slater has really delivered with this piece, quite dramatically reinforcing that, yes, this Basingstoke venue can present in-house work that can stand alongside that of any producing theatre in the country.

He has brought together a multi-talented company, all of whom play a bewildering variety of roles, dashing on and off the stage, changing costumes and even facilitating the elaborate scene changes that are necessary to take us from a theatre to a bakery to the battlefield.

And fans of Joe Wright's sublime 2005 Pride and Prejudice will be delighted by the presence of its Colonel Fitzwilliam, Cornelius Booth, as Ragueneau - and a plethora of character parts too.

But the last word must go to one man, the young Mr Pearce. The energy and soul with which he invests the role handsomely repays his director's faith in his abilities.

He's completely brilliant as the eponymous hero, by turns majestic, vulnerable and devastatingly sad - but always phenomenal.

Do not miss him in action, sword-fighting, verbally duelling and giving it his absolute all - and just for us. Aren't we a fortunate audience.

-Joanne Mace

Tickets are available from the box office on 01256 844244 or online at www.anvilarts.org.uk

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