Hymn to Love

Theatre by the Lake’s first production of the year is a revival of a piece written nearly two decades ago for its star, Elizabeth Mansfield.

Though its subtitle is Homage to Piaf, Hymn to Love is much more than a collection of greatest hits. For a start, we don’t get the full, public, Piaf until the latter half of the show. It begins with the chanteuse in rehearsal, backed by a pianist who never speaks. As the real and remembered world intrude, she tells stories which connect with the stories told in her songs.

It’s not quite a monologue, though, as accompanist Patrick Bridgman’s attentiveness to her spoken and sung words is an important part of the experience. Mansfield resists too close an impression of Piaf in full flow; the drama of the songs (all with English lyrics) carries you through. She slowly increases the physical and vocal intensity so that by the final song – the only one with the original French lyrics – we are watching something uncannily close to Piaf herself.

The atmosphere is enhanced by Andrew J Lindsay’s projected visuals, which mix film with evocative stills.

The part-tribute, part-bio format takes a bit of getting used to at first, but Mansfield’s singing is always vivacious and dramatic, and Bridgman’s interpretations of the songs are, in their own way, just as compelling to watch as listen to.