Piaf

by Pam Gems

Pam Gems has reworked her celebrated 1978 original, Piaf. She vividly captures the glamour and squalor, the rise and fall of the complex, fragile, and enigmatic performer Edith Piaf, who continues to be remembered and revered for her exceptional voice and extraordinary life.

Genres: Plays

Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Ashleigh]

Despite being ~100 pages, this play is a chore to read. I don't know anything about Edith Piaf and was looking forward to learning something new. I didn't. The pace of this book is incredibly fast and focuses on scenic vignettes instead of character moments, which made it hard for me to care about anyone. It also has a nontraditional structure with very short, physical scenes as well as longer, dialogue-heavy parts, making the flow somewhat erratic and hard for me to feel any emotional relief. Within its short time, it also manages to throw in a ton of rude and vulgar commentary, seemingly done only for shock value. If this is meant to pay tribute to Edith Piaf, it does not make her seem like a very good person.

Content warning for sexual assault, murder, fatphobia, misogyny, and probably some slut-shaming. It's hard to remember.

[Jonathan Daley]

Some really quite interesting theatricality and some great dialogue, however the play becomes entrenched in a somewhat boring theatrical style. The songs tend to overload the scenes almost as though they are more important than the text, creating a scene-song repetition which quickly bores and runs dry.

[Artep]

Definitely a piece where the rating can and does go up if cast well.
On paper, however... I don't speak French and didn't care much about anyone? #sorrynotsorry

[Michael P.]

A stunning play.