REVIEW: Love, Edith - The Secret Correspondence at The Golden Goose Theatre30 April – 4 May

‘Piaf’s story is interesting and sad and well worth exploring’ ★★★

The life and turbulent times of Edith Piaf, presented in a lot of short scenes by Giulia Asquino. The set is a sort of apartment-cum-dressing room, within which Piaf has attacks of the Prima Donna and refuses to go on stage, or talks to confidantes, or argues with managers and lovers, or whispers to her lost child. She never addresses the audience; all her monologues are one-sided dialogues. That may be an oversight, for this is a mercurial uncertain character, confiding her troubled thoughts, and she has an audience ready to listen. It’s a confiding sort of show, it’s a bit confusing working out who Piaf is talking to, there may be some transition between Giulia Asquino playing Piaf and Giulia Asquino being Giulia Asquino about to go onstage to play Edith Piaf. A bit of certainty would have been nice, fewer short scenes and more continuity would have been nice, and hearing Giulia Asquino singing the songs of Edith Piaf would have made for an excellent evening all by itself.

Piaf's story is interesting and sad and well worth exploring. Piaf’s music is unique, and letting it ring out on stage is a thrill, especially when the pipes in question are as pretty as Ms. Asquino’s. Prettier indeed than Edith Piaf, who sounded like someone on three packs of Gauloises a day. Wonderful, but smoky. But it needs to be told with more direction, and less confusion, and fewer scene changes. And cross-fades that look purposive rather than the shaky dimming of a bunch of l.e.d.s. 

Lots of talent, lots of possibilities, but maybe another draft?

Directed by Delia Morea