James McAvoy returns to the West End in Jamie Lloyd's Cyrano de Bergerac
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
JAMES McAvoy will play the title role in Martin Crimp’s new adaptation of Edmond Rostand’s 1897 comedy Cyrano de Bergerac. Directed by Jamie Lloyd, it will run at the Playhouse Theatre from November 27, 2019 to February 29, 2020.
Cyrano de Bergerac is a man of many talents; he is a soldier, a musician, and a lovelorn poet. Soon he falls for the beautiful Roxanne, but fears his big nose will stop him finding happiness. Will the ugliness he sees stop him from “being loved by even an ugly woman”?
Jamie Lloyd previously directed McAvoy in Macbeth and The Ruling Class, both at Trafalgar Studios. Macbeth, which launched the first Trafalgar Transformed season, earned McAvoy an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor. The production was also nominated for Best Revival.
Cyrano de Bergerac is part of an accessibility initiative headed and championed by Lloyd, opening a season offering 15,000 free tickets to first-time theatre-goers, with a further 15,000 tickets available to key workers, under 30s and people receiving benefits for £15.
Cyrano de Bergerac is the first in a new Jamie Lloyd West End season, which will run from November 2019 to August 2020 at the Playhouse Theatre. Further productions are yet to be announced. Lloyd previously directed Betrayal starring Tom Hiddleston, and is directing a new revival of Evita at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.
James McAvoy has also appeared on stage in Three Days of Rain (Olivier Award nomination) at the Apollo Theatre, also directed by Lloyd; Breathing Corpses at the Royal Court; Privates on Parade at the Donmar Warehouse and Out in the Open at Hampstead Theatre.
McAvoy’s numerous screen credits include X-Men: Dark Phoenix and X-Men: Apocalypse (as Professor Charles Xavier); Split; Filth, for which he received a BIFA Best Actor Award, London Critics’ Circle Best British Actor Award and an Empire Award for Best Actor; Wanted and Atonement.
Trevor Nunn’s production of Fiddler on the Roof continues at the Playhouse Theatre until November 2, 2019.