Piaf

This show has now closed, click here for a listing of current and future London shows

Previewed 8 August 2008, opened 13 August 2008, closed 20 September 2008 at the Donmar Warehouse Theatre in London
Transferred previewed 16 October 2008, opened 21 October 2008, closed 24 January 2009 at the Vaudeville Theatre in London

A major revival of Pam Gems' play with songs, Piaf in London featuring Elena Roger in the title role.

"Pitch perfect Piaf" The London Evening Standard

From the streets of Paris to worldwide fame, Edith Piaf continues to be remembered and revered for her exceptional voice and extraordinary life.

"A greatly welcome revival" The Daily Express

In this new production of Pam Gems' classic 1978 play, the life of one of the 20th century's greatest singers is retold vividly capturing the glamour and squalor, the rise and fall of this complex, fragile and enigmatic performer.

"An affirmation of Elena Roger's talent and Piaf's legend" The Times

"Niceties first: the lighting really is excellent, and Jamie Lloyd's production rattles on at a cracking pace. In a show about Piaf, however, only one element - the actress - matters.... Elena Roger can't hide her Argentine roots, in her accent or even in her body language, so she's at her most convincing soaring through the epic choruses, rather than enunciating little French phrases. Still, she makes a convincing Parisian chancer, especially to an Anglophone crowd." The Sunday Times

"It is, no question, a remarkable impersonation. Elena Roger... as Edith Piaf in Pam Gems's 30-year-old play, she blazes as both guttersnipe and diva... When Roger sings 'l'Accordeoniste', she mimics Piaf's disconcerting intermittent licking of her fingers. She plays air accordion, and rubs her palms along her little black dress, as Piaf did; she makes it, as Piaf did, a song about a woman who is being played, and who ends with a suicidal wail... All this is gripping, but it is high-grade mimicry rather than re-creation: impressive, not affecting. As is the whole production. Jamie Lloyd's direction reinforces each effect with a scatter of shrewd but noticeable manoeuvres." The Observer

"Why did we ever think this was any good? The biodrama Piaf by Pam Gems - when premiered by the RSC in 1979 - transferred to the West End and to Broadway. Presumably the French chanteuse's life, glimpsed in splinters, seemed stylistically exciting back then... In the starring role, Elena Roger is an extraordinary presence, her gaunt, glassy-eyed face perched atop a tiny body. This Argentine singer, doing a French accent, mercifully avoids recreating Gems's cockney sparrow - a sort of charmless Eliza Doolittle. That said, her limited acting ability is exposed on this thrust stage. Though she wells up during one of her many chansons, you get no real sense that her character has been through the emotional mill." The Independent on Sunday

"The standing ovation for Edith Piaf at the vast Carnegie Hall in New York lasted an astonishing 20 minutes, we are told in Pam Gems's Piaf. The scale was somewhat smaller at the Donmar Warehouse but none the less heartfelt as the audience leapt to its feet to applaud Elena Roger's gutsy evocation of France's most celebrated chanteuse... Argentine actress Roger dazzled as Eva Peron in Evita, but up close, as you can't help but be at the Donmar, she is even more extraordinary. There's nothing special about Roger's slutty street urchin whose head seems too big for her stunted body, until she sings. Then, it's as if a light comes on from within. Her huge eyes burn bright and her guttural voice, like Piaf's, emerges from her soul and scorches with its dark, despairing love songs." The Mail on Sunday

Following a smash-hit, sell-out run at the Donmar Warehouse, Jamie Lloyd's production of Piaf transfers to the Vaudeville Theatre for a limited 14 week season.

The director of Piaf, Jamie Lloyd said: "It's important that it's not a sentimental piece. It would be cheesy to have her wearing her heart on her sleeve. She was a tyrant and manipulative but she could also be warm and witty."

The cast for Piaf in London at The Vaudeville Theatre features Elena Roger as 'Piaf' and includes Shane Attwooll, Phillip Browne, Lorraine Bruce, Luke Evans, Michael Hadley, Katherine Kingsley and Steve John Shepherd (Casting subject to change).