Daniel Dercksen shares a few thoughts with Danièle Pascal


TELL ME ABOUT PIAF - A PASSIONATE LIFE; HOW DID THE SHOW COME ABOUT/ HAPPEN?
It's strange that I return to the role that first launch my career in South Africa, but reflecting back, I have always been associated with her determination to enjoy life in spite of everything at every moment. I thought of the responsibility of playing once again a legend, how to do her justice, because I think that she was such a great star, a great artiste. Trying to be true to her as I could possibly be without mimicking her. I just wanted to show the courage and spirit of this woman who gave me an intimate view on love, sorrow, joy and illusion. I think that in this play I got a fair understanding of her.

IT IS A VERY SPECIAL SHOW TO YOU? EXPLAIN WHY? WHAT MAKES IT SO UNIQUE FOR YOU?
When I wrote the play in early 2007, I went for a subjective approach while depicting a portrait of an artist filled with human truth. Legend and fact combined in a dream like fashion to create the compelling tale of the street urchin with the powerful voice, who was destined to conquer much of the entertainment world. The challenge was to do justice to Piaf without losing the traditional delivery. The answer I found lay in simplicity. In keeping with the tradition of Japanese performance, I let the impetus of the essence led me to the form; creating line through movement and shape, through light and shade I reached for this essence through improvisation. During the process, I discovered a lineage between myself and Piaf, sometimes overpowering.

IT HAS RECEIVED GREAT SUCCESS AND WILL ENJOY A RETURN SEASON DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND; WHY DO YOU THINK AUDIENCES HAVE RESPONDED SO ENTHUSIASTICALLY?
The name Piaf is a name of a voice, an individual singing voice that created and perpetuated an atmosphere of its own. Piaf sang about the things that cannot change. People who are in and out of love, or lovers who are separated, lovers who mourn, lovers who hope to find each other again.
A fascinating figure. A wounded and oh so-human genius, Edith Piaf, has never ceased to brighten the history of French song. What she sang... She lived. Her music is as moving as her life is enthralling. Piaf's life is like a novel, a mixture of darkness and light, of joy and tears with passionate impulses and heartbreaking love affairs. Piaf knew poverty and unhappiness early in life and she died worn out by excesses, drugs, alcohol and giving of herself on stage. She died at the age of 47.
La Môme Piaf cuts a unique figure, embodied in her songs, who you can listen to still today and whose influence has spread well beyond the borders of France. She symbolises a period, a golden age.

HOW DOES IT FEEL BEING ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT 'PIAF' PERFORMERS IN THE WORLD?
I suppose I've become permeated with Edith Piaf, I feel an osmosis with her, I've loved being her on stage throughout my life

WHAT MAKE THE MUSIC OF PIAF IMMORTAL?
What she sung she lived. She will be immortal as long as these songs exist.

WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO THE MUSIC OF PIAF?
Her integrity and realism in her music

WHERE DID IT ALL START FOR YOU? WHEN WAS THE FIRST MOMENT THAT YOU KNEW YOU WERE GOING TO BE A PERFORMER?
a) When I performed in a school play at the age of five
b) When I saw Edith Piaf in a concert hall in the South of France with my grand mother

IS THIS WHAT YOU HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO WITH YOUR LIFE?
Yes all my life I have lived the life of an actor, and portrayed various characters in plays

WHO IS THE REAL DANIELE?
What you see is what you get

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU ARE NOT ON STAGE PERFORMING?
I read a lot, watch the latest music videos and find my sanity by walking the labyrinth

WHAT MOTIVATES AND INSPIRES YOU?
I have a strong universal need to communicate and my horizons have broadened to embrace the beauty of living my dreams through my work. The new generation of performers inspires and motivates me.

ANY COMMENTS ON THE SHOW YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE?
It's without a shadow of doubt , the hardest thing I've ever done - ever, but I'm loving it. Come and see the play

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