Communicado comes bursting onstage, all physical bravado and humorous derring do. The production, raw and raucous though it may be, still makes us aware of what has too often been missing from the play: inventiveness, energy, immediacy. In short: life.
The Times 1992

HERE'S a show that reminds you why they call them plays. Back to open the Lyceum's autumn season after wowing the crowds at the 1992 Edinburgh Fringe, Communicado's three and a half hour production is playful in every respect.

There is play in the actor-centred staging by Gerry Mulgrew, wilfully cross-casting and doubling the performers in a way that only theatre can get away with. Carol Ann Crawford, for example, almost never plays a woman; as the poetry-loving male baker, her wife is played by Malcolm Shields in a dress. And Mulgrew turns it into an asset. There is play, too, in the music, performed live by whatever actor is in the area - a joyful, irreverent Parisian bounce, written by Iain Johnstone. Even the costumes by Caroline Scott are playfully plucked from moments throughout the past two centuries, creating a fashion that has yet to be. Just like Edwin Morgan's eclectic translation, the most gloriously playful of all, revelling in word play, rhyme, and metaphor, pushing at the language in every direction. Looking all the more theatrical in the Royal Lyceum (new seats and fresh paint to boot), the play is driven by the twin engines of language and a killer plot. Edmond Rostand's story is a compelling combination of romance, swashbuckling adventure, the celebration of art, and unrequited love. It's about the exposure of the soul; Tom Mannion in the lead role wearing his nose like a naked penis, symbolising at once his embarrassment and his virility. Thrillingly played by a commanding Mannion in a love triangle with Fiona Bell and Kenny Glenaan, it culminates in the saddest scene you'll see in a theatre all year. And you must see it.

At the Lyceum

Mark Fisher

12 Oct 1996

FIRST thing to discuss are the noses. There is Tom Mannion's in the role of Cyrano, pitted and pocked like a rubber golf ball to suggest a bibulous rather than congenital disorder. There is Communicado's nose for a great show that suits their energetic style perfectly. And there is translator Edwin Morgan's nose for a good line.
The triumph of this production is shared by all three parties. Mannion's performance is immense, a physically commanding Cyrano whose sensitive side, the melliflously poetic voice he uses in the vicarious wooing of Roxanne (Sandy McDade), is tempered with a battler's hoarseness. Communic-
ado attack the show with a gusto and theatrical enterprise that recalls their earliest productions, held by many to represent their best. Morgan adds a priceless dimension in his witty and often hilarious translation into racy Scots, supplying an inspired performance text which is vigorous, pacey, and bright, and it has a sureness of touch in the spirit of Rostand that is difficult to imagine being rivalled.
Its inspirational impact on Gerry Mulgrew's production is everywhere apparent, and even the late withdrawal of Gavin Marshall as Christian, through a serious leg injury, could not disturb the momentum of Saturday night's opening. Never can Communicado have looked so confident with a new show, and with such total justification. Kenny Glenaan took over the role of Christian, and Andrew Farrell joined a re-shuffled cast to share what is an unqualified success. It continues its Edinburgh Festival run at The traverse until September 5 before touring until October.

At the Traverse

John Linklater

17 Aug 1992

 The highlight of the Fringe is Communicado’s CYRANO DE BERGERAC: an athletic, superbly organised and infectiously entertaining account of one of the greatest romantic brouhahas in all literature.The whole thing is a splendid piece of swashbuckling – indeed I haven’t seen a swash so eloquently buckled in years.
'Edwin Morgan's Scots-English translation of Rostand's play simply bursts at the seams with Glaswegian vigour: his swaggering, idiomatic drive, his fine, lyrical sweep, his cheeky rhymes all fuel an evening of marvellous, warm-hearted theatricality.'
Sunday Times

This is THE play of the Edinburgh Fringe, probably the play of the year in Britain, even further afield. Communicado – when they thrust their heart and soul into a show, as they did with Jock Tamson’s Bairns, and as they have done here – are in a class of their own.
The Stage 1992