Top notch acting complements superb costume drama

Simon Maris, Katherine Jones, Tom Bruggenwirth, Dave Candy, and Huntley Thawe. Photo by Tim Greenway. 

Cyrano de Bergerac, Kineton Amateur Dramatic Society (KADS), Warwickshire, from 2 April until 5 April 2025. Director: Sefton Steggalls.

Review by Charles Essex.

Kineton Amateur Dramatic Society (KADS) once again came up trumps as they put on a wonderful production of Cyrano de Bergerac. 

Director Sefton Steggalls decided to arrange the stage as a thrust stage, which turned out to be a great choice as this production worked infinitely better than being on a proscenium stage.

Sefton was unsubtlety helped by having such a wonderful cast, a tribute to what a village amateur theatre company can do as they once again punched well above their weight. Tom Bruggenwirth as Cyrano gave a magnificent performance, one of the best leading roles this reviewer has seen in a KADS.  Tom showed terrific stamina and concentration.  He was on stage for the majority of the play and had a huge amount of dialogue, in which he was word perfect.  His timing brought the best out of this witty script.

Catherine Jones as Roxane was astonishing as the object of Cyrano’s love, but she in turn had infatuation and enthusiastic desire for Christian (Kyle Lawson), the young soldier in the regiment.  Christian was inept at writing love letters to Roxanne so Cyrano helped him even though he himself was in love with her.  Kyle conveyed Christian’s clumsiness well.  Simon Maris was the disingenuous Count de Guiche, who also had designs on Roxanne. 

The battle scene as the regiment faced the enemy off stage was cleverly portrayed with sound effects, and Lauren Worral and Abbie Croker, as two of the soldiers, gave a wonderful duet of the soldiers’ song as they prepared to face the final and probable fatal assault, overwhelmingly outnumbered by the enemy.

The costuming was top quality, which was particularly impressive for an amateur production.  Cyrano survived the battle but suffered what turned out to be a fatal head injury years later, although who inflicted this on Cyrano and why was unclear to this reviewer.  It did however allow the conclusion of Roxanne realising that all along it was Cyrano who had written Christian’s romantic letters.  That notwithstanding this sets a really high bar for KADS and they fully deserve full houses for this production.

Tickets from: Contact Us | Kineton Amateur Dramatic Society