Anyone planning to bring a figure as iconic as Belgian superstar Jacques Brel to life on stage is setting themselves a true challenge.

Brel entranced some of the greatest songwriters in the world through his passionate performances and songwriting skill.

And Gambolling Arena Theatre Company’s English translations of his lyrics underlined why – talking about subjects such as death, infidelity and politics with a cast of dark characters and black sense of humour in a world away from the sugary teenage pop of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Sadly the production failed to capture the pure charisma of the man himself or get much deeper into his character.

Singing unamplified Simon Pennicott was unable to bring out the passion of Brel’s work, and lacked the magnetism of the man.

Clare Chandler and Lisa McKinley, playing Brel’s daughters, possessed stronger voices, but were left to provide wincingly poor choreography ranging from marching up and down to miming instruments.

The whole show was powered by cruise-ship style pre-recorded synthesiser tracks which left the music feeling even flatter.

Between songs the company failed to provide any sort of narrative strand, simply picking out lines from Brel’s writings and his daughters’ memories to introduce the songs, without leaving any lasting impression.

In total it failed both as a performance of Brel’s work and an insight into his life – a shame with such rich material available to mine.