RIEN TO REGRET!
This is a terrific, impassioned manufacturing: not solely does Kimberley Sykes’ course and Michele Meazza’ s motion work maintain it watchably, startlingly vigorous, however Sam Kenyon’s musical course – thrilling and witty orchestration, proper right down to results of clashes and crashes – makes use of a forged of 9 actor-musicians in addition to I’ve ever seen it accomplished. They circulation always around the stage from the primary Parisian road scene onwards, turning into the mass of characters round Edith Piaf’s life with seamless ease: Signe Larsson strikes, tall and Nordic-stately, from her double-bass to grow to be Marlene Dietrich or Madeleine the assistant to an ageing star, Tzarina-Nassor on a notable skilled debut as Toine – however all of them are outstanding: versatile and sharp, dedicated in flip to every character they grow to be.
But after all at its centre must be Piaf herself, and right here is ideal casting: Audrey Brisson – whose stage AMELIE beat the movie hole, and likewise started proper right here – is after all good for Piaf. She is tiny, vivid, trustworthy large eyes shining beneath a wild mop of black hair, her red-lipped mouth opening large in wild naive passionate sincerity . In one good line, when she’s felt her American tour will not be going properly sufficient, Dietrich says to her which you could’t have an orgasm each time you go onstage, to which the little firecracker snaps “I can!”.
She performs the crudeness, the sweary street-urchin side of our heroine but additionally the vulnerability, her complete face creasing into horrible despiar; she makes the change over years right into a grande-dame carapace with out shedding any of the previous childlike high quality. And by no means, after all, the voice: mouth large, a shouting emotional tribute to womanhood, want, loss, ambition and at occasions brazen contempt, a unclean chortle on the world. Her scenes with Marlene and her final lover, Theo, are touching; her leap from the highest of the piano into the arms of Djavan Van de Fliert’s buff boxing Marcel is breathtaking, her sprawl above the keyboard as he thumps out passionate chords intensely erotic.
Pam Gems’ often-reviewed play is episodic, intentionally sketchy, and typically ‘spoilers’ are important: anybody approaching it does properly to know the skeleton info of Edith Piaf’s life. That she busked on the streets of Paris, first along with her father a road acrobat then alone, dwelling amongst prostitutes; that she was found by a membership proprietor who promptly received murdered, placing her briefly underneath suspicion; that she sang for German troops within the conflict however helped to free French prisoners; that she had many lovers, married twice, promoted Charles Aznavour’s profession, and after a foul accident turned depending on drink and medicines. And that she turned a legend, surrounded by myths, giving the world nearly greater than it deserved. Well, OK, I’ve been a faithful fan ever since I used to be eleven years previous, a short lived French school-girl ice-skating in Nineteen Sixties Lille to the rhythms of “Je ne Regrette Rien!”, decided to reside a life match for such emotional grandeur. Millions have felt that with me..
Box workplace watermill.org.uk. to. 17 May
Rating 4
Leave a Reply