EDMONDEDMOND ROSTANDROSTAND

Born: 1st April 1868 (In Marseille, France)

Died: 2nd December 1918

He was born in to a wealthy and cultured provençal family.

Later on in his life he married the poet

Rosemonde Gérard.

They had two sons called Jean and Maurice.

A French poet and dramatist

He wrote a lot of romantic plays which provided an alternative to naturalistic theatre (as this

was popular during the late 19th century)

Associated with neo-romanticism

Cyrano de Bergerac• The play that Edmond Rostand

was best known for writing.• Written in 1897 based on the life

of the real Cyrano de Bergerac.• There are many film versions of

the play and also operas and ballets.

• One of the main characters, Christian, was played many times by Gérard Depardieu.

• The entire play is written in verse.• This play is responsible for

bringing the word ‘panache’ into the English language.

• The film ‘Roxanne’ was based on this play. The part of ‘Christian’ was played by Steve Martin.

Les Romanesques

• Another popular play by Rostand.

• It has now been adapted into the highly successful musical comedy ‘The Fantasticks’.

Edmond Rostand became the youngest writer to be elected to the Académie française in 1901.

He studied literature, history and philosophy at the Collège Stanislas in Paris.

Music: The overture from The Fantasticks

By Hannah Brent

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