An online version of the hit Nottingham Playhouse and Leeds Playhouse production of Pam Gems’ Piaf will be available to rent until 31 December 2021.
Directed by the Nottingham Playhouse’s artistic director Adam Penford, the reopening production at the venue this summer stars Olivier Award-winner Jenna Russell (Sunday in the Park With George, Merrily We Roll Along, Grey Gardens) as the iconic French chanteuse.
The co-production which had been due to debut at both venues in 2020 also features Sally Ann Triplett (Last Ship on Broadway, Anything Goes at the National Theatre) as Toine – Edith Piaf’s best friend and confidante – and Garry Robson (Reasons to be Cheerful, Graeae, Blanche and Butch, BoP) as Louis Leplee – the nightclub owner who discovered Piaf.
Penford heads a creative team that includes designer Frankie Bradshaw, lighting designer Jack Knowles, sound designer Ella Wahlströmis, musical director Gareth Valentine, movement director, Georgina Lamb, dialect coach Félicité du Jeu and casting director Will Burton.
Since its premiere at the RSC in 1978 with Jane Lapotaire in the title role opposite Ian Charleson as Pierre, playwright Gems’ biographical drama has attracted some of the theatre’s most accomplished leading ladies. Lapotaire who also went on to star in the show on Broadway, winning a Tony Award for her performance, was followed by Elaine Paige who was nominated for an Olivier Award for her performance in the first London revival in the 1990s and Argentine actress Elena Roger who took home the 2009 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical in the second London revival.
Angela Thomas
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