Virginia Gay on bringing Cyrano to London and importance of queering the classics

Austrlian actor Virginia Gay has long been a force to be reckoned with in the world of theatre and television. Blending wit, charm, and heart into every project she touches, her gender-flipped adaptation of the 1800s French play Cyrano de Bergerac, titled Cyrano, has proven no exception.

Originally premiering in Melbourne and earning rave reviews, the production took the Edinburgh Fringe Festival by storm this summer, earning a prestigious Fringe First Award. With its fresh, queer reimagining of a beloved classic, Cyrano is now set to make its London debut at the Park Theatre from 11 December 2024 to 11 January 2025.

Ahead of Cyrano’s highly anticipated London run, Gay has shared her insights with Attitude on writing, performing, and the importance of giving a queer voice to classic productions.

You wrote this version of Cyrano and are starring in it. Do you prefer one role over the other?

I’m sorry to say I have one of those brains where I always prefer what I’m not doing. I’m not proud of it, but I’m honest about it, and that’s important.

How’s it different from other plays you’ve been involved in?

Well, I know the writer on this one. And if you’re nice to her, she lets you change things. I mean, she’s chaos, don’t get me wrong – like, her head does not seem like a calm place to be. But she’ll change something to suit the strength and truth of an actor real quick, and if anybody in the rehearsal room’s got a funnier punchline, you better believe it’s in.

What was it like working at the Edinburgh Fringe and even coming home with an award?

I didn’t know you COULD have a good Edinburgh Fringe. I’ve done it so many times and have regularly played to fewer people in the crowd than there are on the stage. Regularly. So this is extra astonishing. I felt very lucky, very grateful.

How do audiences in the UK differ from Australian audiences?

We give out poetry at the beginning of the show, and sometimes I do a little chat about the poets as I’m giving them to people. In Edinburgh, I would start talking about John Donne and people would stop me talking and say, “Oh, please, this is one of my favourite poems.” It’s kind of amazing to be performing this show in a country where poetry is so … a part of the world? I think that’s what happens when you’re actually walking past the place where Virginia Woolf wrote, or Dickens sat, every day. All those little blue plaques – the ceramic confetti all over town. Which is not to say Aussies don’t have our own kind of poetry. I’ve done a pass to remove all the most egregious Australianisms.

What do you think audiences in London will take away from the play?

That a lovingly irreverent shake-up of an old story is a pretty great way to spend an evening, and that maybe, just maybe, you might actually be worth the huge, big love you’d always been taught you weren’t.

How important is it to have a queer reimagining of a classic story?

Vital. Because the stories that we tell ourselves (in our brains, and societally) shape who we are, what we think we’re capable of. We’ve got to see complex, incandescent central queer characters who reach for love, and have that love returned. No more tragedies, no more death and sacrifice of the queers, thank you! That’s how we support and promote change in the world. But also, that sounds shatteringly dull and worthy, and our show ain’t that – it’s a raucous comedy, and it’s hot and beautiful and silly and true. That’s also very important – highly-sexed, wild, funny central dynamics at play, specially for my female queers. Babies, we’re the main characters here, and shit is going dowwwwwn…

You were part of the new series of Colin from Accounts. How was it being part of the fan-favourite series?

I was a fan first as well! A WILD fan. And it’s SO rare to walk onto the set of your favourite show. That was equivalent to 14-year-old me walking on to the set of Buffy, as far as I was concerned, and I was roughly as chill about it (read: not very). It was the happiest and most playful, most generous set I’ve ever been on. The hat business (play it on a loop at my funeral please) was all improvised, and getting to fuck around with Patty and Harriet, honestly two of the funniest people I know, was MAGIC.

And finally… sell the show to us in one line.

It’s hot as hell and stupidly funny – it’s a great show to bring a date to. We can’t guarantee that you’ll get laid afterwards, but we’ll give you all the help we can…

Tickets for Cyrano are available now, directly from the Park Theatre website.

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