The theatre out the theatre: Edmond Rostand

Edmond Rostand(1868-1918) is an French author, more famous for his comedy Cyrano of Bergerac, and this comedy is very important, because represents the theatre out the theatre, where the public instead of to be a element absolutely marginal and external become the coprotagonist, the personages of the comedy speak among them of the verses or other that is inherent to theatre, for example a personage, a marquis  says: “And we enter in theatre so as the little bourgeois! Without disturb nobody and without to tread on someone toes?”, it is an example of soliloquy that now has became theatre, actually dialog to the public and one present personage, Ragueneau is confectioner of actors; hence Rostand  gone out from the theatre, and he take the life , the true life, because in the dialogue between the confectioner and an other personage, called Lionerie the confectioner look around and he says: “I don’t see the mister Cyrano it is very strange that he isn’t”, and Lionerie asks why, and Ragueneau answers: “Because to night recites Montfleury”; it is can seem a cue alone but a personage of this comedy that mentions other personage of same comedy; it is the theatre out the theatre , and the cue after is more meaningful for this motive, the first the marquis asks: “Who is Cyrano?” and the confectioner answers that the absence of Cyrano is very anomalous, because he hates Montfleury, that prohibited to Cyrano of recite for a month; it is the tell that involves also the theatre, but the confectioner tells something that is external to theatre; the acme is in the cues that shows a spectator  says: “They have confirmed it, and a murmur of public: “Shut up! He seems, no, yes, the cardinal?”, these are alone cues and stop, but the public says it, therefore the public is participating of the comedy, and Cyrano take part to comedy through and ask: “Rogue, I have prohibited  to you to recite from a month” but it is said from the stalls, that has protested for the disturb of Cyrano, and he has reacted defying the public to duel; it is alone comic, but it has a meaning very deep, because the public now participant to comedy, and the comment of Cyrano to some verse of Balthasar Bato(1596-1650), a French poet, determined the reaction of some women from the gallery, that protest for this judge, and Cyrano that answers to a spectator: “Old mule the verse of Bato are nothing”; it is the real conversation in theatre  among the friends on the a question that involves the style and the recitation, but Cyrano while says it, he is in public, this is in the stalls. Rostand has brought the theatre out the theatre.

Alessandro Lusana