Cyrano

David Bintley discusses the main characters in his new work.

Cyrano | Roxane | Christian | De Guiche | Valvert | Ragueneau | Le Bret

Character guide

Cyrano is a perfect example of a rennaissance man, a poet, a scientist, a musician, a swordsman, and a member of the cadets that fight and protect the area. However, he is cursed by his big nose, which causes him to lack the confidence to declare his love for his cousin, Roxane.

As David Bintley says: 'That is why he's trying to be the best. He is supremely confident in every other aspect of his life, and says at one point that all he's interested in is excelling at everything, which is a massive overcompensation for his nose. You often find that many people with what they consider to be faults tend to compensate by achieving greatly. Many of the best dancers have natural limitations, but they bring so much more to the roles they play, and that's what makes them great.'

Cyrano learns that Roxane is in love with another man, Christian. Both ask for Cyrano's help. Although Cyrano is nearly destroyed when he finds out that Roxane loves another, his sense of honour means that he cannot stand in the way of her happiness. Cyrano provides the illiterate Christian with love letters that he can send to Roxane, letters containing words so powerful that they cause her to fall even more deeply in love. When Christian is later killed in battle, Cyrano decides that he can never tell Roxane that the words were his.

'This self-sacrifice is why we have so much respect for Cyrano', says David. 'Towards the end, Roxane shuts herself away, but not out of choice: she's effectively dead because Christian is dead, the only man she ever loved is gone. But Cyrano remains alone out of choice, because he doesn't want to destroy what she had, because he really believes that Roxane loved Christian'.