Award-winning actor Adrian Lester is finally making his Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) debut, playing the title role in a brand-new adaptation of Edmond Rostand’s classic romantic comedy Cyrano de Bergerac. Working with the RSC has been a long time coming for the Birmingham-born star, who hopes the irony-free production will have as much of an impact on audiences as the size of his nose…

For an actor who has become almost synonymous with Shakespeare - he’s played critically acclaimed lead roles in Henry V, Othello and Hamlet, among others - it seems implausible that Adrian Lester has never performed at the RSC. Ironically, now that he finally is doing so, it’s in Cyrano de Bergerac - not even one of the Bard’s plays.

“I know, but it may as well be!” laughs the Birmingham-born actor, who twice visited the venue as a youngster while a member of Birmingham Youth Theatre. The trips fired his enthusiasm to make a career in the profession, and while he never considered it at the time, a subconscious seed was sown for his eventual return to Stratford.

“I’ve had my eye on the place for ages and wanting to do something there, so I’m so glad I get to do this,” he says, admitting there have been numerous discussions during the 35 years (yes, really) he’s been a professional actor.

“I’ve had conversations with many artistic directors at the RSC, but timings have just not been right. It’s brilliant to be doing this now because the stars have aligned. And the RSC is the best place for this play, really - it’s a classic, it’s a new adaptation, and it’s got a very strong, modern voice running through it.”

The new version has been co-created by Simon Evans and Debris Stevenson, with long-term involvement from the lead actor. Adrian first discussed the idea with Evans, who is also directing the piece, after they met at a party eight years ago (“we decided there and then that we’d work together”).

“My input into the writing of the piece was not to write a word but to come up with an understanding of what was missing and needed to be taken care of in terms of the big holes in the plot, and also where we go for romanticism’s sake without the words being about anything.

“It all got put on the shelf due to Covid, but when the RSC asked Simon what he wanted to direct, and then separately asked me if there was anything I wanted to be in, we both said Cyrano de Bergerac. And that was it.”

The pair knew a new adaptation was needed, and Evans decided on a collaborative approach - getting Stevenson to tackle the poetics (“the poetry of the piece and the poetry of the characters”, according to Adrian) while he handled the prose.

“It’s been brilliant. Debris has just been fantastic - vibrant, modern, incredibly collaborative… the three of us have said we definitely want to repeat this and work together again.”

The fruit of their labour is a production designed not only to celebrate the original, but to treat it with sincerity rather than irony, according to Adrian, whose Cyrano writes love letters to woo Susannah Fielding’s Roxane in the guise of her handsome suitor, Christian de Neuvillette (played by Levi Brown).

“We’re not going to talk about love and commitment and joy and poetry with a slight wink or nod or cynical idea on it. We’re going to do it in a very romantic, big-hearted way, with swords, with language, with poetry and with rhymes - it’s an open-hearted, big romantic comedy.”

When I suggest a comedic role has been a long time coming for the actor, it’s the cue for a howl of laughter and the recollection of a somewhat unnerving series of conversations.

“There’s been a few instances when I’ve been chatting to people socially - at a party or a restaurant - and someone has leaned across the table and taken my arm and said gently ‘You know what, you’re actually quite funny… some of the things you say are really quite amusing. Maybe you should think about doing something funny, because you know what? I think you could be funny.’

“Oh thanks, thanks very much,” he deadpans, laughing again. “I think my public persona isn’t one that lends itself to comedy, farce, slapstick… but that’s all going to be in this play.”

Maybe this is the role to open new doors and get him out of being pigeonholed as a serious actor?

“I hope so. I’ve always loved the idea of doing something unexpected and something new, so this’ll be great. No one will have seen me like this in two ways - in terms of the comedy and lightness of touch, and they also won’t have seen me with such a big nose.”

Ah yes, we’ve finally got to the elephant (man) in the room. Cyrano’s colossal conk. At the time we spoke, Adrian was still getting used to a rehearsal prosthetic proboscis, but the performance version - made from latex, created using a 3D printer and shaped to fit over his own nose - is much bigger.

“It fits my own nose beautifully. We’re aiming for it to look like it is my nose, and it’s absolutely massive. It’s about giving Cyrano the insecurity to believe he’s not worth loving because he’s so ugly.”

As well as the physical comedy of the role, Adrian claims the script is a gift for any actor (“the fun, the repartee, the fighting, the love, the stakes, the poetry, the commitment, the big-hearted passion… it’s a beast of a part!”), with the combination giving him the chance to entertain and move people - factors he claims are his constant driving force as an actor.

“I really like the idea that you can go and see something about a certain subject and come away from the cinema or the theatre with a completely different opinion because your understanding and empathy has been raised or changed.

“It’s the kind of thing that theatre has the power to do; to make people think, to make them lift their hearts up. We were drawn towards Cyrano because he’s such a big-hearted, romantic character.

“It’s also great to be watching a play with a main character that feels like all of us. He feels like his dreams are too big for him to attain, feels small in front of the person he loves, and always feels like there’s something wrong with him. I think most of us have that feeling, that insecurity - especially in front of the people that we love or the thing that we want.

“We all have our own [big] nose, only we carry it around inside, and it’s that part of this play that people will respond to. They’ll recognise it in him and his story, and they’ll know it’s about their own life.”

Cyrano de Bergerac shows at The Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, until Saturday 15 November

By Steve Adams