Cyrano De Bergerac
Playhouse Theatre, London Until February 29, 2hrs 50mins
What happened to the nose? Cyrano traditionally has a whopping great schnoz. On comes film star James McAvoy and his conk is completely… normal. How disappointing is that? It’s like watching Falstaff without the fat suit.
Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play is still France’s best loved. Derek Jacobi gave an unforgettable, ant-eater performance with the Royal Shakespeare Company; Steve Martin and Gérard Depardieu were in fine film versions of the story.
But I rather sneeze contempt at this production, which comes with no set, just standing mics and community-centre plastic chairs.
James McAvoy (above) is truly charismatic, fierce and tender – and a late contender for performance of the year – in a show that gives us everything except Rostand’s play
It has to be said, though, that McAvoy is truly charismatic, fierce and tender – and a late contender for performance of the year – in a show that gives us everything except, I’d argue, Rostand’s play.
Cyrano, believing his face is a romantic disqualifier (which, since he hasn’t got a big nose here, makes this version a nonsense), writes love letters and speeches on behalf of Christian, the genial clod Roxane is attracted to.
What she falls for, of course, is Cyrano’s passion in words delivered by her lover.
Martin Crimp has penned this verse translation in street poetics, with Anita-Joy Uwajeh a sweary, feminist Roxane. Eben Figueiredo is a likeable, Ali G-sounding Christian, and Tom Edden is the rapacious De Guiche.
Director Jamie Lloyd clearly feels that panache – what this play is all about – is dead and irrelevant. He replaces it with an unbecoming, modern intensity that robs the thing of its mood of pathos.
The show is relevant, hip and very now but lacks lushness. This is a great production of something – but it’s not Cyrano De Bergerac.
The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe
Bridge Theatre, London Until February 2, 2hrs 30mins
Rating: 
Narnia is back. The land where it’s always winter but never Christmas. The animals – beavers, a fawn, mice, a wolf and a giant puppet lion – are all present and correct in this show, first seen in Leeds two years ago.
In Sally Cookson and Rae Smith’s eye-popping production, billowing silk is used to evoke the permafrost of Narnia. The story is largely intact, except that C S Lewis’s specifically Christian, spiritual dimension has been replaced by the religion of diversity, and the four Pevensie siblings are played by adult black actors.
As the Professor pointedly reminds us, our minds are like parachutes – they only work when they’re open.
The animals – beavers, a fawn, mice, a wolf and a giant puppet lion (Wil Johnson as Aslan, above) – are all present and correct in this show, first seen in Leeds two years ago
The White Witch (Laura Elphinstone) and her wolf, Maugrim (Omari Bernard), exude a raw evil, which makes you side all the more with the rather bland kids, the jolly beavers and Father Christmas.
But the most emotional scene – Aslan the lion’s sacrificial death – goes for nothing.
I found this production to be clever, very inventive and admirably full of audience participation. But, lively though it is, this tale of children journeying from this world to another doesn’t cast the mesmerising spell of Lewis’s original.
The Astonishing Times Of Timothy Cratchit
Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester Until December 29, 2hrs 10mins
Rating:
This sequel to A Christmas Carol finds Scrooge wanting a teenage Tiny Tim to become partner in his firm. But the callous and callow youth swans off to seek adventure, breaking Scrooge’s heart.
The cast of Jonathan O’Boyle’s well-staged and warmly felt production are winning, with Ryan Kopel a guileless Timothy.
But it’s a mystery why Allan Knee wanted to tell this story – he seems more interested in clowns and showmanship than ghosts and Christmas.
Character motivations are often murky, dialogue veers towards melodrama and the depiction of disability – Timothy has a leg brace – as something to overcome if you’re to flourish is despicable.
Holly Williams