4 April – 17 May

This is a must-see show, for Audrey Brisson is quite brilliant as Édith Piaf, the ‘Little Sparrow’ whose genius as a chanteuse enabled her to escape from a grimly impoverished childhood to become France’s greatest popular singer. Pam Gems’ musical-play has been revived many times since it premiered in 1978, and in that time it has often garnered awards for the actors performing the title role. But it is hard to believe that anyone has ever inhabited the part as convincingly as French-Canadian actor Brisson does at The Watermill. In a fearless performance she depicts all of Piaf’s earthiness, becoming at times positively feral as she unflinchingly portrays her casual promiscuity. Piaf is told that ‘you don’t have to stay in the gutter just because you were born there’, but there is a pervading sense that she never quite left that earlier squalor behind her, with drink and drugs eventually precipitating her early death.

But Piaf’s story is one of outstanding talent transcending grubby reality, and Brisson superbly conveys all the magic of Piaf’s artistry. She sings in French, capturing with uncanny accuracy the distinctive timbre of Piaf’s voice. Similarly petite, and with as big a voice, she recreates the sense of wonder that Piaf’s original audiences must have experienced: how does a sound of such immense emotional power come from such a tiny figure?

The play itself is not without flaws. Édith Piaf led a life crowded with incidents, and Gems packs far too many of them into the first half so that major characters and events come and go in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it fashion. Piaf’s experiences during the Occupation of Paris during the Second World War led to accusations of collaboration with the Germans and later exoneration, but here the whole era flashes by in a few minutes. The dialogue is not free from cliché either, and is decidedly clunky in places.

However this production, inventively directed by Kimberley Sykes, accepts that the somewhat sketchy narrative is not the main strength of the play, and in the first half boldly places music front and centre.  The very talented supporting cast are all actor-musicians so, for example, one sees Signe Larsson as a double bass player one moment and as Marlene Dietrich the next. There is thus a cheerful blurring of the distinction between dramatic role and musician. Sound design (Andy  Graham) is subtly clever in the way musical instruments are also used to provide sound effects, as with the siren of an ambulance coming to collect Piaf after yet another car crash – she survived three, two of which were nearly fatal.  

In the second half the pace becomes less frenetic, and there is room for a more thoughtful depiction of events and relationships. Particularly well drawn is Piaf’s friendship with Toine (Tzarina-Nassor – warm and down-to-earth), that dated back to her childhood spent in a brothel.

Piaf’s support of young talent is briefly but touchingly portrayed, including her championing of Yves Montand (Djavan Van De Fliert – excellent) who we see deliver a comically inept version of Deep In The Heart Of Texas before Piaf persuades him to be true to his Italian roots, whereupon he gives an entirely convincing, full-blooded performance of Sorrento.

At the end Piaf is a shrunken, exhausted creature, but still possessed of a star’s defiance. Brisson’s superb rendition of Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien brings the show to a triumphant and very moving conclusion.

★★★★☆  Mike Whitton   10 April 2025 

Photography credit: Alex Brenner