Told by an Idiot and Theatre Royal Plymouth‘s innovative new production, The Strange Tale of Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel, will run at HOME, Manchester from Tuesday 4th to Saturday 8th February 2020 as part of a national tour.
Playing fast and loose with the facts, looking at an unknown period in comic history when two maverick imaginations collided for a brief time, and with an original piano score composed by Mercury Award Nominee Zoe Rahman (played live each night), The Strange Tale of Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel is no nostalgic bio-drama. Instead, writer and director Paul Hunter has created a hilarious and deeply moving homage to two men who changed the world of comedy forever.
The cast includes: Sara Alexander, Nick Haverson, Jerone Marsh-Reid as Stan Laurel, and Amalia Vitale as Charlie Chaplin.
In 1910 the unknown Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel set sail for New York as part of Fred Karno’s famous music hall troupe. On the journey, Charlie and Stan shared a cabin and then spent two years together touring North America, with Stan as Charlie’s understudy.
Stan returned home, later finding success with his soulmate Oliver Hardy. Charlie developed his Little Tramp character and within five years became one of the most famous figures in the world. In Charlie Chaplin’s highly detailed autobiography, Lancashire-born Stan Laurel is never mentioned, yet Stan talked about Charlie all his life.
The events in this play are fictional. This play is certainly not endorsed by the estates of Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel, or anyone else for that matter!
For more information, and to book tickets, please Click Here.
