By the end of her career, Edith Piaf was battling doggedly against all the odds, beset as she was by the combined effects of illness, addiction and three car crashes.

Portraying the singer in Pam Gems’ ‘Piaf’ entailed Lorraine Brunning having to convey physically the tortures which ‘The Little Sparrow’ was prepared to endure in order to perform for her public. Brunning may have been forgiven for believing that her tribute show would free her from the more physical demands of the performance, but she found herself having to battle gamely against new adversity in her one night appearance at the Langham Hilton last September.

Performing in a sumptuous room to a well-heeled audience had its drawbacks, as technical difficulties mounted, not the least of which was the singer having to cope with spotlights that didn’t work, the lack of a feedback speaker for her and what sounded like the noisiest air-conditioner in London.

None of this is offered as a prelude to an excuse but as a tribute to Brunning’s professionalism. Like Piaf, she struggled through the difficulties and produced a riveting performance that by the end of the Second Half had won over a rather demure audience that sat some distance away in a cavernous room. Cabaret in this room might work, but the management should give careful consideration to the layout they use for occasions which demand a more intimate ambience. Not all performers will be as willing or able to compensate for the failings of the venue as Lorraine Brunning, her producer Christopher Ager and her Musical Director Barrie Bignold obviously were.

Brunning delivered 18 of the French diva’s best-know songs, mostly in their original language, varying the pace between the slow anthems such as ‘Hymne à l’amour’ and the more lively songs such as ‘La Goulante du Pauvre Jean’. Freed from the acting dimension of her rôle, Brunning created an impression rather than an impersonation of Piaf, adding enough of herself to add a contemporary and personal relevance to what could otherwise have been an altogether more macabre event.

Explanations of the stories in the songs were given, important since the little three act dramas which Piaf performed through so many of her songs were an integral part of her artistry. Brunning’s rendition of the haunting ‘Les Amants d’un Jour’ was particularly well conveyed, though she consciously refrained from smashing a glass at the end; surprising, since given the situation she might have been forgiven for venting her spleen on a piece of the Langham’s best Waterford!

The evening climaxed with a well-paced ‘La Foule’, a searing ‘Mon Dieu’ and the inevitable ‘Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien’. Brunning built the mood steadily through these songs and brought the audience to its feet as she closed out the show. By the end, the evening was pure Piaf!