Brel: The Words and Music of Jacques Brel

Overview

Silo Theatre Company's take on Jacques Brel's legendary songbook has been touring the country since 2012. In February it featured as part of the NZ Festival in Wellington and it will return to Auckland this week for a rather special encore performance.

Brel has been called the French older brother of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. He has rock star status in France but if you haven't already seen this spectacular show, you could be forgiven for not having heard of him.

He was a bit of a ladies man, he was quite scathing about his native Belgium and rather than write lyrics to music, he wrote poetry which he later put to music. He was also highly prolific, writing over 300 songs in his relatively short career.

From Amsterdam to Ne Me Quitte Pas, Brel's songs are mini narratives that transcend time and place. Director Michael Hurst and performers Jon Toogood, Julia Deans, Tama Waipara and Jennifer Ward-Lealand do a fantastic job of translating the passion, violence, irony and despair of his music on stage.