Classical review: Peter Straker’s Brel, Assembly Hall (Venue 35)

THE British/Jamaican singer Peter Straker gives a series of passionate performances of songs from the repertoire of the Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel in this show, which is very impressionistic and gives those of us unfamiliar with the details of Brel’s life and career a flavour of the man, though no great insight or understanding.

Peter Straker’s Brel

Assembly Hall (Venue 35)

Star rating: * * *

It opens with a clip from a filmed interview with Brel in which he is established as a bit of a philosopher, with some offbeat ideas about talent and achieving one’s dreams. Straker picks up the dream theme and uses it to launch into a programme of songs including Jacky and Amsterdam, which in Straker’s hands certainly come to life. Highlights include the entertaining Mathilde and the most beautiful song in the show, Ne me quitte pas/If You Go Away.

The Brel canon is not to everyone’s taste, and while Straker makes it accessible and fresh, the show would benefit from assuming a little less knowledge on the part of the audience.

• Until 26 August. Today 6pm.