Back from a mini tour of Yorkshire and Stockport and cheering for supporting act Indignation Meeting
It’s Piaf alright, but...
LYNNE WALSH leaves the theatre rueing the many imperfections of a production that should have promised so much more
Piaf
ALISTAR FINDLAY is mesmerised by this multiple ‘Visions of Scotland’ assault on the audience’s eyes and senses
The Star's critics ANGUS REID, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MICHAL BONCZA reviews I Am Love, The Penguin Lessons, Freaky Tales, The Thicket
MAYER WAKEFIELD has reservations about the direction of a play centered on a DVLA re-training session for three British-Pakistani motorists
New releases from Steve Knightley, Jupiter & Okwess, Jason Palmer, Lisa Knapp and Gerry Driver, Kin'Gongolo Kiniata, Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey, Dan Sealey, Simin Tande, PAZ
Peter Mitchell's photography reveals a poetic relationship with Leeds
A uncomfortably misogynistic authorial voice that sometimes seems to lack insight troubles FIONA O’CONNOR
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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Anti-fascists from around the world will soon be travelling to Spain to commemorate the International Brigades and walk in the footsteps of the bravest of their generation, writes LYNNE WALSH
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