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It’s Piaf alright, but...
LYNNE WALSH leaves the theatre rueing the many imperfections of a production that should have promised so much more
Elizabeth Mansfield as Edith Piaf
[Robert Day]
STEVE ANDREW recommends a lively and often moving guide to once vibrant spaces that have been abandoned or swept away
GEOFF BOTTOMS appreciates the local touch brought to a production of Dickens’s perennial classic
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a production whose design and cartoonish acting overwhelms the close scrutiny of characters
SUSAN DARLINGTON enjoys the raucous familiarity of a traditional topsy-turvy pantomime
RON JACOBS introduces the latest novel by the best writer of US working-class fiction writing today
Hymn to Love
Jermyn Street Theatre
London SW1
★★★
It’s often tricky to pinpoint where the gaps are in a production, but there’s something fundamental and important missing here.
Elizabeth Mansfield, delivering no fewer than 15 of Edith Piaf’s finest songs, is incredibly skilled — her delivery is flawless.
Hymn to Love is a challenging undertaking, neither musical theatre nor “tribute act.” It presents some insight into the life of La Mome Piaf [The Little Sparrow]. Abandoned at birth by her mother, she later neglected her own baby who died aged two. Betrayed lover, victim of violence, consumed by grief after the love of her life died in a plane crash.
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