ELIZABETH Mansfield is no stranger to portraying luminaries of the past. You may recall her portrayal of Marie Lloyd, saucy queen of the music hall, in the York Theatre Royal Studio in a one-woman show in April 2010 or her remarkable interpretation of troubled Parisian chanteuse Edith Piaf in Pam Gems’ play Piaf on the main stage in June 2002.

Elizabeth had first portrayed the Little Sparrow in Gems’ work at Harrogate Theatre 15 years earlier and further explored Piaf in her solo show Hymn To Love in 1997.

She completes her Piaf hat-trick in Portraits In Song, in which she brings to life in words and music the deeds of not only Edith Piaf but also another great figure of European chanson and balladry, the German playwright and songwriter Bertolt Brecht.

“As far apart as you can get, they connect by contrast,” says Elizabeth. “Piaf engages the heart, Brecht engages the mind, but Brecht’s songs, like Piaf’s, are full of theatricality and drama, and in this performance two very different and compelling world views emerge.”

Elizabeth and her partner, writer Steve Trafford, first created Portraits In Song as the very first show for their Ensemble theatre company in 2001 and it now forms the company’s seventh show at the Theatre Royal.

“Steve had created Hymn To Love in 1997, based on Jean Cocteau’s solo piece for Edith Piaf, Le Bel Indifférent, and the thing about that show was that Steve had done these wonderful new translations of Piaf’s songs, which is very difficult to get permission for,” says Elizabeth.

“They all had to be approved by the original lyricist or their publisher, which was a labour of love, but they really were magnificent, and with that stage show having finished its life, we wanted to continue using those songs.

“That’s when we decided to put together the lives of Piaf and Brecht, both Europeans, both masters of the chanson, yet ideologically opposed. Piaf says fate is preordained but Brecht says you can create your own fate by your actions and decisions.

“I suppose what Brecht really meant was that to believe you were a victim of fate was a hindrance. Things happen and then you have the chance to respond. It’s how you deal with fate that’s important.”

Elizabeth put Portraits In Song into cold storage when her original pianist, Russell Churney, died of cancer six years ago. “After Russell’s death, I just couldn’t touch the show, though in fact it was the last piece he performed before he died, at the New End Club in Hampstead,” she says.

Years later, however, when she was thinking about Russell, his voice came into her head, saying “This show has something to say; get on and do it”, and doing it she is, accompanied by pianist Stephen Rose.

“It’s a marvellous show that hasn’t changed for the new tour. It’s still 90 minutes straight through; very simple in its form but complex in its subject,” she says.

In creating portraits of both a woman and a man, Elizabeth reckons “less is more”. “You’re trying to find that essential single line, like in a Picasso sketch, that gives the right energy, “For Piaf, that single line is where she’s singing from her emotional centre. When Piaf was on stage, that was the moment when she felt less afraid than at any other time; that adoration of the people who loved her, because she was so abused in her childhood that it made her a monster and desperately insecure,” she says.

“There is that complexity in Piaf of a passionate core but twinned with self-loathing and lack of confidence.”

The single line for Brecht’s portrait is more complicated in its form, suggests Elizabeth, who focuses on his ideas, rather than his character, in order to stimulate the mind. “Not for a minute do I attempt to be Brecht, or impersonate him, not least because he wrote for others, not for himself, so I sing for the songs and for Brecht’s sense of the songs,” she says.

“The context of those songs, the way they are located in the text, allows them to come alive in very interesting ways, though that is true for both Brecht and Piaf.”

Portraits In Song does not draw conclusions, instead concentrating on presenting the opposed world views. “It’s one portrait followed by the other but Piaf always comes first; it doesn’t feel right the other way round,” says Elizabeth.

“Piaf is lit only by a spotlight, but then when we move on to Brecht, the whole stage lights up as we’re opening up the world to be looked at.”

• Ensemble presents Portraits In Song, York Theatre Royal Studio, Thursday and Friday, 7.45pm; a talkback by actress Elizabeth Mansfield will follow Thursday’s show. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk