Richard Gélinas shows off his nose as the lead in David Whiteley’s translation of Cyrano de Bergerac.
For months, David Whiteley buried himself in translation dictionaries and rhyming books, scribbled multiple drafts of theatre scripts and drank a whole lot of coffee to stimulate his mind.
For the sake of following his ambitions, it had to be done.
“From my early days I’ve been enamoured with translating Cyrano de Bergerac into my own adaptation,” says Whitely. “I knew when the opportunity presented itself, I really needed to tackle it.”
Late last year, Whiteley’s dream finally became feasible.
This month the classic French play, originally written in 1897, hits the Gladstone Theatre with a brand new script translated into English, sorted into rhymed verses and tailored to a modern audience.
The new version is almost entirely Whiteley's remake.
“Earlier in my career, I found a knack for producing translations and I’m really excited it’s led me to do Cyrano,” he says.
Running until Feb. 16, the play tells the romantic tale of an “ugly” French soldier with many talents searching for love.
It's supposed to be a mix of a little bit of everything; funny, suspenseful, exciting and romantic, among other things.
Assistant director Lucy Collingwood says although the script has remained largely intact from Whiteley’s original adaption, everyone in the cast and crew worked together during rehearsal to ensure this production injects unique rhymes and language into the story, yet stays true to the classic form.
“I like the chemistry of all the brains in the room during rehearsal,” says Collingwood. “When you get all these people together and they’ve got different ideas of the text, it's a lot of fun.”
Whiteley says he didn’t read too much into previous translations of the play because he wanted to make this production his own.
His main challenges were making the original script suitable for a modern audience while sticking to the original’s form and making it rhyme, he adds.
“Without changing where the play is set, I try using language and expressions that are known and make sense and are part of the language we use today,” he says. “Rhymed verse is a fascinating, compelling, lovely part of the original work.”
Richard Gélinas, who plays the lead role of Cyrano, says the crowd is likely to respond positively to Whiteley’s adaption.
“I think the crowd will go wild with joy and grief, emotional rollercoaster and leave having been fully entertained,” he says. “There are swordfights, how could that not be compelling?”
Élise Gauthier says the script is crucial to defining her role as Roxane, Cyrano’s main love interest, because of Roxane’s use of language to express herself and connect with other people.
“My character is a precious girl who likes poetry, beautiful language, and love is all about talk,” she says. “I didn’t know how David would do it at first but the script is great and really tells that story.”