Piaf

In the first of the year's Curve productions Paul Kerryson is again spoiling us by bringing a bona fide West End musical icon to Leicester. Persuading Frances Ruffelle to play Piaf follows close on the heels of Janie Dee in Hello Dolly and Caroline O'Connor in Gypsy just shows the prestige that Leicester's Curve has created for itself in less than 5 years.
Being staged in the intimate Studio space for the best part of a month is ideal for the diminuative Edith Gassion as raucously brought to life by Ruffelle in Pam Gems' warts and all musical. An openng bare stage, save for a lone red rose (signifying her greatest song, La Vie En Rose), is backdropped by an angled curtain and proscenium arched by an askew picture frame to echo her chaotic life.
The matinee audience of OAPs, their white haired heads bobbing along to the songs remembered from their childhood, filled the auditorium and seemed pretty nonplussed by the extreme language of the Parisian guttersnipe that rose to dizzy heights of fame but somehow seemed to be hell bent on self destruction. From an early age Edith was scraping an existance on the streets on Belleville in Paris. Prostitution and street singing were her mainstays until she was spotted by Louis Leplee, a gay club owner who, unusually, didn't want anything from her beside her singing. Too much alcohol, depression and several car crashes with a succession of racy lovers led her to prop up her battered body with drugs until, at 47, it could take no more and she died in the arms of her latest carer/lover/husband.
While this production only vaguely sketches in the peripheral characters of her life, Piaf's rise and fall gives Ruffelle the chance to shine in a powerhouse performance. Standing four-square at the mike, hands defiantly on her hips and chin pointed to the back of the gallery, Piaf's characteristic stance dominates the stage.
Rather than confuse the audience with cod french accents Kerryson opts to use mangled Cockney vowels to signify the working class origins of the singer. Very apt considering Frances Ruffelle's real daughter is singer Eliza Doolittle!
It is always rewarding to notice Paul Kerryson bringing back actors who have distinguished themselves in previous Curve productions and I noticed several familiar faces from Hello Dolly, Finding Neverland and Oliver.
This production deserves to be toured so other cities can benefit from a superb production.

© Paul Towers 28/2/2013