On 28th December 1897 a play premiered at the Comedie-Francaise in Paris (France’s national theatre) that received a reception more akin to a pop concert. The final ovation lasted nigh on an hour & afterwards the auditorium was still packed with the audience wanting more.

The play was the tragicomedy, ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ written by the young neo-romantic, Edmond Rostand. Success in Paris was followed by similar in London & New York. Rostand became an instant celebrity & within weeks was awarded the Croix de la Legion d’honneur.

Many believe Cyrano was a fictional character – not so! Rostand’s play was based upon the 17th century author, raconteur & swordsman Savinien de Cyrano. However, many of the exploits attributed to Cyrano by Rostand were invention. The plays main plotline involving the romance between Roxane (in real life Cyrano’s cousin) and the handsome, but inarticulate Christian, was entirely fictional. Also, Cyrano never wrote any love letters to Roxanne on behalf of Christian, or anyone else come to that. Though he was a fine swordsman Cyrano did not single-handedly beat off 100 brigands when attacked by them in the Paris back streets in the celebrated ‘duel with 100 men’ scene in the play.

There is a statue of Cyrano in Bergerac but he did not hail from there. Cyrano was born in Paris in 1619 & apart from two years military service, during which he gave good account of himself at the siege of Arras in 1640, he spent all his life in Paris. Cyrano’s regiment was made up of soldier’s predominately from Gascony & it’s believed from that he cultivated the name Cyrano de Bergerac.

His writings show Cyrano was a satirist who poked fun at everything from religion & superstition to politics. Allied to which he was a libertine who enjoyed the company of freethinking individuals whom he entertained with his poetry & tales of sexual daring!

Cyrano’s belief in Reason was rare for his time. He would have been more at home during the Age of Enlightenment period a century later.

Now to that ginormous ‘conk’! Engravings show Cyrano did have an extravagant proboscis, which he himself often joked about, but nothing like that depicted in Rostand’s play. Rostand exaggerated the size of Cyrano’s nose so he would have something to ‘hang his storyline on’ so to speak! In 1950 Jose Ferrer won an Academy Award playing the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac (a majestic performance!) Gerard Depardieu too was superb as Cyrano in the 1990 movie.

The real Cyrano was just 36 when he died – such a rich & intriguing life concentrated into so few years!