Theatre: Blazing and Brilliant

02 July 2026, The Tablet

Hip-hop heroics: Susannah Fielding (Roxane) and Adrian Lester (Cyrano).

MARC BRENNER

The text echoes hip-hop and maximises the word games in the play, including Cyrano and Roxane conducting conversations in words beginning with a single letter.

THE ROYAL Shakespeare Company has sometimes rented dedicated London bases – first the Aldwych, then the Barbican – for its Stratford-upon-Avon shows. At the moment, a vaguer arrangement sees one-off venues hosting commercial transfers and co-productions, both financially vital for the RSC, which has just made substantial budget cuts. Examples of each strategy have arrived in the capital. A sellout at the Warwickshire HQ last autumn, Cyrano de Bergerac is the sort of starry crowd-pleaser the struggling company needs.

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