The update is pale, great actors «kleinezeitung.at

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“Cyrano” refreshments at the Burgtheater in Vienna make a mixed impression.

to Martin Jacir | 12:31 AM Apr 06 2022

It would have been a stranger than language: British playwright Martin Karim transferred the French verses from Edmond de Rostand’s “Cyrano de Bergerac” to a new linguistic world close to spoken words and rap. The sad hero of the same name, who compensates for his unfavorable physiognomy with a sharp tongue, ingenious in language whose brilliant madness cannot completely hide his own insecurity, speaks here no less artificially, but only artificially contemporary. It may have lost a bit of momentum in translating into German, but the main loss occurs on stage: Oddly enough, Crimp’s text remains pale for long periods, rhymes and rhythms rarely carry you away, and its humor and originality often evaporate in a matter of seconds. Crimp’s verses look better on paper – odd for a text that was actually only supposed to reveal its beauty through lecture.