Needle Nose Underneath the Needle

Sunday afternoon, after watching George Mason ensure that we'd lose our NCAA tournament pool for the 17th straight year, we joined some middle-aged ladies, high school kids, elderly couples, and 20-something drama enthusiasts at the Seattle Shakespeare Company's excellent production of Cyrano de Bergerac.

If you're a fan of Steve Martin or Janeane Garofalo, you know the basic story--an eloquent, soulful, but straight-up freaky lookin' person finds a smokin' hot but skin-deep avatar to express their unrequitable love for another.

Seattle Shakespeare Company's version is a new translation of the original rhyming 1897 version by Edmond Rostand, who's a French guy. The modern translation, by local actor, musician and scholar Sean Patrick Taylor, doesn't rhyme, but it in some sort of pentameter or something. We'll take the program's word for it. Even after a semester of Shakespeare in high school, we never understand that stuff.

Anyway, we liked the translation. The dramatic scenes were dramatic, and he didn't let faithfulness to frog-talk stand in the way of letting the comedic scenes be funny.

Scott Coopwood, as Cyrano, succeeds both as the charming raconteur of the first act, and the tragic lover of the third. Also, the sword-fighting. And keeping his prosthetic nose on. His performance is flawless.

Our favorite scenes were between Coopwood and Nathan Smith, as Christian, the strutting, handsome proxy. Smith is a damn-fine comedic actor and we hope to see him again soon.

As Roxane, Emily Grogan is breathtaking--breathtaking in salmon before the intermission, breathtaking in blue after. The actress recently moved back here from London; she's apparently made it her life's work to pretty up two of the world's most dreary cities. If you can't tell already, we fell about halfway in love with her during the play, so she obviously nailed her role as the object of two men's affections.

Now's the time when we nitpick, and our subject is stage direction. In two of the play's most pivotal scenes--Roxanne's stirring final words to Christian (as he tries to tell her of his deception) and Cyrano's own near-confession to Roxanne--the lovely Ms. Grogan had her back to the audience. Mon dieu!

Though long (three hours, including the intermission) the production never drags, and the sparse staging makes acting the deserving focal point. People who like plays will like this one.

The show is at the Center House Theater, which is on the first floor (or basement, depending on how you look at it) of the Center House. Showtimes and tickets.