Actors as Malvolio and Cyrano: A blog on actors playing two famous roles.
Actors have been playing the role of Malvolio in Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” since its debut in 1602. The role of a fool may seem easy, but it is actually very difficult for an actor to play. An actor must be able to make the audience laugh, sympathize with his character, and express his emotions all at once.
One of the most famous Malvolios was Toby Stephens, who played him in a production at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Stephens had previously played Antonio in the same play, which is why he was cast as Malvolio – both characters are foils for each other.
Another great Malvolio was played by Simon Russell Beale in 2002. He gave an amazing performance as the Puritanical steward whose love for Olivia drives him mad with jealousy when he discovers her true feelings do not match his own.
Cyrano de Bergerac is another famous role that actors have been playing since the 17th century. The character was first performed in 1640 by Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (Molière), which made him one of France’s most popular actors at that time. It has
In the professional world of acting, it is common for a performer to play a wide variety of roles in various productions. As such, it is not uncommon for an actor to be asked to play two or more very different parts at the same time, often at different venues. This can be quite a challenge, as each role must be portrayed with complete realism and integrity.
Two such roles are Malvolio and Cyrano de Bergerac. As characters they have absolutely nothing in common: one is small, ugly and resentful; the other is large, handsome and egotistical. Yet both have been portrayed by the same actor simultaneously: Simon Callow, in 2004. He tells the story of how he did this in his book My Life in Pieces (London: Phoenix Books, 2005). How did he achieve this incredible feat?
The secret lies in his understanding of what makes these characters tick.
In the past few years, I have had the good fortune to see two plays featuring great roles for men.
The first was Malvolio in Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”. The second was Cyrano de Bergerac (for once not in a musical).
I had the good fortune to see both roles played by outstanding actors – and my plan is to compare their performances.
Some readers may be surprised that I am comparing a Shakespearean role with a French one (and the fact that Cyrano is so often done as a musical does not make this play less French). But there are some interesting parallels between these two characters: they are both men of great integrity and pride; they are both humiliated but ultimately triumph; and they are both played by the same actor!
Sean Bean’s performance as Malvolio was part of an excellent production in London, directed by Dominic Dromgoole. The production featured lots of ideas, some successful, such as having Sir Toby (a drunken lout) played by a woman (Julia Ford), who was called Maria. It was not a serious gender-bending casting decision: instead it made Malvolio’s haughty behaviour seem more ridiculous – because he bullies a woman! And Bean’s performance in
I am writing a blog on actors who play two different roles that are perhaps two of the most famous plays in history. One of them is Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, in which the actor must be able to portray a foppish servant who is an eternal optimist and possibly insane. The other is Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac, in which the actor must be able to show his vulnerability and his love for his cousin Roxanne while also portraying bravado and a great swordsman. The contrast between these two roles will be discussed in my blog.
I have been thinking about two actors, one who is a friend, the other a hero. The friend has just taken over from Kevin Kline in “Cyrano de Bergerac” on Broadway (I saw it last Sunday). The hero died all too young almost 30 years ago, and I was reminded of him yesterday when I watched a DVD of “Malvolio” from the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
This is not some esoteric exercise. On the contrary, it’s about how you sustain yourself night after night in front of an audience. It’s also about star power and its limitations.
The friend is Douglas Hodge. I knew him first at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1982 when he was a boyish young actor with an impish sense of humor and an eclectic range of parts (his debut at the RSC was as Moth in “Love’s Labour’s Lost”).
My hero was Nicolai Ghiuselev, whom I first saw as Malvolio at the Chichester Festival in England in 1975 under Sir John Clements and later at the RSC (where he created the role of Vassily Toporkov in Tom Stoppard’s “Dogg’s Hamlet”). He made his American debut in 1976 as
I know it is not the most popular opinion, but I feel that the role of Malvolio in “Twelfth Night” was written with Brian Schreiber in mind. The role of Cyrano de Bergerac was written with him in mind, too. He did both of them.
I saw Mr. Schreiber do Malvolio first, at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, in a production directed by Joseph Haj and designed by Vicki Smith. There were many things that were unusual about this production, including that it was double-cast, meaning there were two actors playing each role and they would switch off on different nights.
Mr. Schreiber played Malvolio opposite Dan Donohue as Feste, the fool, who is often a kind of all-knowing observer; if you’ve ever seen “Twelfth Night,” you know why. The scenes between these two were absolutely riveting! It was like watching two masters go at it with samurai swords. And when they chuckled together, it was so spontaneous, you felt like an eavesdropper on something private and real.
When I worked with Mr. Schreiber years later on “Cyrano” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, he played Cyrano opposite Richard
I’ve seen two productions of Cyrano de Bergerac; both times the actor playing Cyrano also played another major role. In the first production, it was Christian (the lead), and in the second, it was Ragueneau.
I’ve also seen two productions of Twelfth Night with the same cast arrangement. In each case, Malvolio played Sir Andrew.
I don’t know if this is a common practice, but I thought it interesting that these four specific roles were paired together twice.
What are your thoughts?
