Christine Bovill - PIAF

As much a play as it is a musical homage, PIAF is a funny, poignant and moving theatrical homage to one of France’s most endearing icons; celebrating some of her best known songs, threaded with Piaf’s story, and performer Christine Bovill’s own remarkable journey in the world of chanson.

No glamour. No gimmicks. No pretence. Nothing but a voice, singing of life’s triumphs and tragedies.

Who was Edith Piaf? And how did she come to represent the spirit of Paris like no-one before or since?

Her life is as well documented as her legendary voice - a child of the Paris streets who rose, via a tragic life of drink, drugs and death at 48, to become the best-known chanteuse in America and throughout the world. She lived the passionate life of a "sacre monstre", loving, laughing, crying, drinking, taking and giving to excess. There were no half-measures.

Christine Bovill hated French at school; a fact she was happy to share with anyone who would listen. That is, until a chance discovery of an Edith Piaf record. This would prove a seminal moment in the life of the 14 year old girl from Glasgow and set Christine on a fateful path through time into the world of France’s greatest musical icon.

An award-winning songwriter in her own right, and recipient of Spirit of the Fringe, Bovill has toured throughout Europe and the Far East with her self-penned homage to the Little Sparrow, appearing on BBC Newsnight and on BBC Radio 4’s series, Soul Music. During her Edinburgh Fringe sell-out run at the Famous Speigeltent, Bovill realised a lifelong dream when she shared the stage with Charles Dumont, great friend of Piaf and, most famously, composer of Non, Je ne Regrette Rien. They performed several songs together to close the show. PIAF was awarded the Fringe laurels for Total Sell Out Show 2011 and 2012. It received 5 STAR reviews from some of the most respected publications (including The Scotsman).

Despite the sorrow of Piaf’s story, this is an evening of celebration – a tale of human triumph over tragedy; and, at its heart, a unique performance by a woman widely regarded as one of the finest interpreters of French Song.