<\/p>\n
“We all have a part of ourselves we feel isn’t good enough – that we’re either very insecure or even angry about.”<\/p>\n
Those were the words of actor Adrian Lester as he spoke about his debut with the Royal Shakespeare Company in its reimagining of Edmond Rostand’s 19th Century play Cyrano de Bergerac.<\/p>\n
The Birmingham-born Hustle star portrays the titular character Cyrano \u2013 a romantic poet with crippling self-consciousness caused by his distinctive nose, which takes make-up artists 40 minutes to attach to Lester’s face.<\/p>\n
Lester said the play was an exploration of human insecurity as well as the self-belief needed to overcome it.<\/p>\n
“[Cyrano] has the insecurity. So to that extent, in many ways, we all have our nose,” he told BBC Midlands Today.<\/p>\n
The story centres around Cyrano’s romantic letters written on behalf of love rival Christian de Neuvillette (Levi Brown) as he tries to charm Roxane (Susannah Fielding).<\/p>\n
Lester added: “We still, as a modern audience, are concerned with love, justice, insecurity and how that plays out in a world where you can do your all for people and hope they will do their all for you \u2013 where honour actually matters.”<\/p>\n