Brassens Et La Femme feels a bit of a cheat, as there is no indication in any of the accompanying flyers or literature that the entire show is performed in French. In some ways I applaud the producers at Theatre du Sablier for having the guts to come to the Fringe and make no exceptions for their show. On the other hand though, the performance made me feel a little ignorant as, having barely scraped through GCSE French, I only understood words like ‘the’ and ‘and’.
I feel a little unqualified to even write a review as they could have been speaking the most profound words ever spoken and I wouldn’t know. Sadly, I fear there aren’t many people at the Festival with enough of a grasp of the French language to understand more than I did.
The act is a showcase of the songs and poetry of Georges Brassens, performed by three women and three men. Costume changes are made in front of the audience or in the shadows of the church hall which houses the production. This gives the impression of a game of dressing up, and the whole thing made me think of a group of enthusiastic youngsters putting on a show for their parents. There are some catchy numbers in the set, although they’re not likely to appeal to the masses.
Consisting of the kind of thing you would hear in a musical or a variety show, they are pretty unchallenging and will possibly only be of interest to people who are already fans of Brassens.
3/5
Becky Stone
