BEN Keaton says his latest role is, in effect, several different roles in one.

Cyrano de Bergerac is a soldier, a poet, an ace swordsman, a philosopher and an artist and it was the "beautiful, wild spirit" of the character that attracted him to the part.

"He lives life to the full and he's completely uncompromising. He has his code and personifies the French idea of panache. If they want to, characters like him dress in their own individual way," he says.

Ben has become a firm favourite at the Exchange in recent years, and his credits include the Marx brothers play Animal Crackers and Harvey, the gentle comedy about a man with a rather unusual best friend - a six foot white rabbit only he can see. He is, to coin a phrase, something of a comedy natural. Will he be able to use these skills in his latest role?

"Yes - this role is described by Rostand, who wrote it, as a heroic comedy. It's not a ho,ho,ho' comedy but it's rich and it's warm and it's funny. It's funny because the humour comes from the characters who are in it. We're doing some things in it that aren't normally done. There's a scene in which Cyrano goes off to fight 100 people and we're fighting 100 people. We're using the idea of the fights that they use in movies - in movies sword fighting very often has comic elements in it. Being in the round means that you can go towards the audience and you can go through them, so it's very exciting," he says.

* The Royal Exchange Theatre presents Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand until January 13 at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from 0161 833 9833.