Casting is complete for the RSC’s forthcoming production of Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac, newly adapted by Simon Evans and Debris Stevenson.

Also directed by Evans, performances are scheduled for September 27-November 15 in the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon. Opening night will be October 7.

Olivier-winning actor Adrian Lester (Othello, Company), as previously announced, will make his RSC debut in the title role, joined by the newly announced Susannah Fielding (The Merchant of Venice, American Psycho—The Musical) as Roxane and Levi Brown (Macbeth, This Town) as Christian.

The company will be completed by Joseph Christain as Edmond, Sunny Chung as Sister Claire/Madame Jodolet, Philip Cumbus as Le Bret, Greer Dale-Foulkes as Abigail, Rachel Dawson as Band Member/Ensemble, Oliver Grant as Band Leader/Ensemble, Scott Handy as Comte de Guiche, Caolan McCarthy as Arnauld, David Mildon as Jodolet/Carbon, Matt Mordak as Valvert/Pierre (Reserve), Chris Nayak as Monfleury/Priest/Bernard, Daniel Norford as Louis, and Christian Patterson as Ragueneau.

Director Evans said in a statement, "Cyrano de Bergerac is one of the great plays: swashbuckling, swaggering, aching with the unspoken; and what excites me most is the chance to approach it without irony. I’m a little tired of the trend for winking, knowing productions that seem afraid to feel too much or mean what they say.

“This is a play about feeling and how we communicate it. How language seduces, protects, wounds, and heals, and it’s a thrill to work on it with Debris Stevenson: finding an approach to the text that celebrates the original and finds new ways of unlocking it.…This version is big-hearted, quick-witted, sharp tongued, and unapologetically sincere: period enough to lose yourself in, modern enough to feel like it’s speaking directly to us about love, longing, and how we show ourselves to the world.”

Joining Evans and Stevenson on the creative team are set and costume designer Grace Smart, lighting designer Joshie Harriette, composer Alex Baranowski, sound designer Donato Wharton, movement director Sarita Piotrowski, fight and intimacy director Bethan Clark, and casting director Matthew Dewsbury.

Visit RSC.org.uk.