Two more shows at the Stratford Festival reviewed

This week, we'll look at the final two shows I attended the first week I was at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in early July: Edmond Rostand's 'Cyrano de Bergerac' and Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'. Both star one of the true 'names' of the Stratford Festival stage these days, Colm Feore, who, incidentally, told me years ago he still has fond memories of attending Ridley College here in St. Catharines many years ago.

Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac is almost always a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, as it is this year under the direction of Colm's wife, Donna Feore. Stratford last produced the show back in 1994, also starring Colm Feore, so it was interesting to compare the two productions. Overall, I think the 1994 edition was a bit more energetic; this one seems a little more restrained at times. It is still a good production, but like the 1994 edition, this one still pales in comparision to the 1983/84 productions staged at the Shaw Festival and starring Heath Lamberts in the title role and Marti Maraden as Roxanne. For some reason, those two productions seemed to better capture the magic that was indeed Cyrano, from his witty dialogue to the final salute to his "panache" as he called it, which signals the end of the show. Back then, Lamberts went down with a blaze of glory; this time Feore seems to go down almost with a whimper. I found myself hoping for a little more of a flourish in the final scene. But maybe that's just me.

Still, this is a production with lots to recommend it. Everyone knows the story by now: Cyrano loves the beautiful Roxanne, but she falls in love with young Christian de Neuvillette, who has to depend on Cyrano's lovely words to convey his feelings of love to a woman who craves words in the most romantic fashion possible. Actually, mere words won't do the job; she requests soliloquey after soliloquey describing his love for her. All courtesy of Cyrano, of course, except for one memorable occasion when young Christian decides to go it alone and finds himself hopelessly tongue-tied and Cyrano saves the day just in the nick of time.

As Cyrano, Feore is very good, as was the case in 1994; he shows great depth of character and commands the stage whenever he is on it, in spite of a very large cast surrounding him. Young Christian is played with genuine sincerity by St. Catharines' own Mike Shara, who is having a good year at Stratford this year. Amanda Lisman is a likeable Roxanne, but not the best I have seen. As pastry chef Ragueneau, Steve Ross generates much humour with the part.

So, the verdict? If not the best Cyrano I've seen, it is certainly well worth seeing and will not disappoint in any way. Just make sure you have a hanky or two around towards the end. Cyrano de Bergerac continues at the Festival Theatre until November 1st and rates a strong three out of four stars.

The second play we'll look at this week is Shakespeare's Macbeth, which I was told before leaving for Stratford last month was a bit of a disappointment. I didn't find that to be the case, actually, in spite of the fact director Des McAnuff has opted for a modern dress version of the play. With Julius Caesar this year, modern dress does not help the play at all; here, it all seems to work better, (as it is set in somewhat modern-day Africa), except of course in the final fight scene when modern-dress soldiers do battle with swords. In that final scene, McAnuff has Gareth Potter's Malcolm slay Colm Feore's Macbeth in rather gruesome fashion, decapitating him on the hood of an army jeep. A spade for a spade, perhaps?

There is quite a bit of technology at play in this Macbeth, but it really doesn't detract from the play at all and doesn't threaten to overtake the action. The action is very realistic for the most part, thanks to fight director Steve Rankin. But there is no escaping the brutal aspects of the story, and a case in point is the chilling death of Macbeth's son, which is pretty gruesome even for a play with so much death surrounding the characters.

As Macbeth's son, Kolton Stewart shows great promise as a young actor; we'll have to keep an eye on him. Peter Hutt has a surprisingly small role as one of Banquo's murderers; and Tom Rooney makes the most of his comical turn as the Macbeth's porter. But the main roles are really what matter in this show, of course, and Colm Feore is quite brilliant and complex as the madman Macbeth; his Lady Macbeth is Yanna McIntosh, who also shines in this production. The other performance of note is the dignified King Duncan of Geraint Wyn Davies, who managed to be killed off early in both productions the weekend I was there, in Macbeth and Julius Caesar. Oh well, you make the best of your time on stage, and Geraint certainly does.

Macbeth continues at the Festival Theatre until October 31st and is just shy of a full four out of four stars; due to complications with staging modern dress Shakespeare, I'll give it a highly-recommendable three out of four stars.

August 8th, 2009.