Rehearsal room images have been released for the RSC’s forthcoming production of Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand’s thrilling, lyrical tale of love and lies, longing and disguise, in a new version by Simon Evans and Debris Stevenson, directed by Simon Evans. The production runs in the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon between Saturday 27 September and Saturday 15 November.

Olivier Award-winning actor Adrian Lester makes his RSC debut to play Cyrano.  Adrian’s theatre credits includes: Henry V, Othello (National Theatre; Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor), Company (Donmar Warehouse/West End; Olivier Award for Best Actor), As You Like It (Cheek By Jowl), Red Velvet (London and New York; Critics’ Circle Best Actor Award), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Lehman Trilogy (Broadway; TONY Award nomination for Best Actor). Television credits include: Sandman, Hustle, Undeclared War, Undercover, Life, Trauma, Trigger Point and London Spy.  Film credits include: Primary Colors, The Day After Tomorrow, As You Like It, Dust and Mary, Queen of Scots.

Susannah Fielding returns to the RSC to play Roxane. Previous RSC credits include The Merchant of Venice (as Portia opposite Patrick Stewart’s Shylock). Levi Brown makes his RSC debut as Christian.

The full company comprises: Levi Brown (Christian de Neuvillette), Joseph Christain (Edmond (Young Reserve)), Sunny Chung (Sister Claire/Madame Jodolet), Philip Cumbus (Le Bret), Greer Dale-Foulkes (Abigail), Rachel Dawson (Band Member/Ensemble), Susannah Fielding (Roxane), Oliver Grant (Band Leader/Ensemble), Scott Handy (Comte de Guiche), Adrian Lester (Cyrano de Bergerac), Caolan McCarthy (Arnauld), David Mildon (Jodolet/ Carbon (Reserve)), Matt Mordak (Valvert/Pierre (Reserve)), Chris Nayak (Monfleury/Priest/Bernard (Reserve)), Daniel Norford (Louis (Reserve)) and Christian Patterson (Ragueneau).

Talking about the play, Simon Evans, director, said:

"Cyrano de Bergerac is one of the great plays: swashbuckling, swaggering, aching with the unspoken; and what excites me most is the chance to approach it without irony. I’m a little tired of the trend for winking, knowing productions that seem afraid to feel too much or mean what they say.

“This is a play about feeling and how we communicate it. How language seduces, protects, wounds, and heals, and it’s a thrill to work on it with Debris Stevenson: finding an approach to the text that celebrates the original and finds new ways of unlocking it. Adrian Lester is remarkable, and brings a fierce intelligence and vulnerability to Cyrano: quick witted and stirring; while Susannah Fielding’s Roxane will be funny, sharp, emotionally fearless. Together (and alongside the remarkable cast we’ve put together) they’ll light the whole story from the inside and make it feel fresh, wild and exciting.

“This version is big-hearted, quick-witted, sharp tongued, and unapologetically sincere: period enough to lose yourself in, modern enough to feel like it’s speaking directly to us about love, longing, and how we show ourselves to the world.”