Cyrano de Bergerac

Rostand's panache comedy: the swordsmen-poet who writes his rival's love letters and loves in secret.

Specifications & Metrics

author

Edmond Rostand

type

Romantic verse comedy

era

Belle Époque France (1897)

language

French

setting

Paris, 1640s

source text

The historical Savinien de Cyrano's life and legends

acts

5 acts

Relative Scale in Plays

Core Principles & Analysis

• Premiered in Paris in 1897 with Constant Coquelin in the title role.
• The word 'panache' entered common use through Cyrano's dying speech.
• Its hero is drawn from a real seventeenth-century swordsman-writer.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Cyrano de Bergerac (play)