We chatted to Joseph about starring in Virginia Gay‘s Cyrano at the Park Theatre until the 11th January.
Hi Joseph, what can you tell us about this version of Cyrano? This version is a playful, modern reimagining of the classic and is very aware that it’s a reimagining to quite hilarious effect. It’s joyous, full of heart and passionate, a celebration of love and the messiness of life.
How has it been working on the production so far? Very lovely indeed. This show is my first theatre and it’s like being in an intensely loving family and I’m sure you’ll feel the love in the show that has resulted. The first UK incarnation of the show went to the fringe and, as the only new cast member for the Park Theatre version, I’ve felt so welcomed. I’m a lucky boy.
What do you think that this version of the story will highlight for audiences? To borrow a line from the play, life is a mess. To borrow another, we all feel loneliness, longing. The story says perhaps that’s no bad thing, indeed perhaps that’s essential and can help bring us together and guide us towards a better understanding of ourselves. It also lovingly offers how we might now rewrite the classics (and traditional structures of love) in our own variable image, for our time, making lots of messy mistakes along the way.
What attracted you to being part of this production? The writing, which is very funny but also very generous and tender. Then when I met Claire, Virginia, Jess and the team for the first time over zoom, it just felt like such a special project, full of love and spirit and all that good stuff.
How do you see your character Yan? Yan wants very much to be loved for who he is, deep down. He falls hard for Roxanne who is unfortunately quite into words and language and all that chat business. He’s sincere and authentic and thinks with his body first. He has a lot of intelligence, it’s just that this intelligence exists mainly in his body (and in bodies in general for that matter.)
What are you most looking forward to about performing the show? The audience. This is a show that has fun with the presence of an audience. Virginia calls the audience the seventh character of this show and the characters kind of figure themselves out with the audience’s help. You’ll see what I mean when you see it!
By Emma Clarendon
To book tickets visit: https://parktheatre.co.uk/event/cyrano/