CHARLIE AND STAN AT THE ARTS THEATRE
Jerone Marsh-Reid and Danielle Bird as Stan and Charlie
What did audiences see in the massively popular comedians of yesteryear? How did Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel wow the American movie scene and end up millionaires? How could two under weight, scrawny youths sweep the field in nascent Hollywood? Find out in the most charming way possible with this extraordinary production at the Arts theatre all this week. It really is the chance of a lifetime to experience the charm and humour that bowled over fans and packed ‘em in across the world.
An evening with this company of astonishingly talented actors illuminates the hilarity of the silent films The jerky 1920s reproductions of many of those comedy duos can leave a modern audience cold. But this imaginative revival is so inventive it takes us on a trip into the past, to the slapstick heyday of Charlie Chaplin – and his fellow performers Laurel and Hardy.
The conceit of the Duo that Nearly Was or the partnership that never happened is based on a true story. They boarded the same liner in 1910 bound for New York and along with the many thousands who made that trip (including my own grandfather below steerage as a stoker) looking for better luck and a better life..
Charlie Chaplin had a horrendous childhood in East London where malnutrition drove his mother into madness in a mental asylum : child Charlie’s frantic fight to rescue her as she’s led away in a straitjacket is only one part of the demanding role for an enchanting Danielle Bird. With lovely brown curls and a perfect downcast demeanour, here is young Charlie Chaplin in person. Nick Haverson plays Charlie’s strangely threatening father – and Fred Karno the menacing maestro of the theatre company where both Chaplin and Laurel signed up –; he’s on board for New York and cuts deals the whole voyage. As for Stan Laurel, Jerone Marsh-Reid does a high level athletic act so entirely convincingly - yet he oozes comic bewilderment throughout the play. The bunk bed scenes in the cabin are high level slapstick, comic timing and acrobatics at their zenith. No wonder the audience was open-mouthed at these precision capers.
This is a silent production in the same gender as the silent film.. Music is provided by a wonderfully versatile and charismatic Sarah Alexander on the piano (she doubles as Charlie doomed mother – to leave he piano to do this energetic scene she calls for a replacement player from the audience - and recruits a very competent young person) So fun, so pantomime and so successful. Nick Haverson’s frighteningly raucous singing is brilliant and his drum interludes are top notch. And there’s a quick tap sequence.
Charlie and Stan , written and directed by Paul Hunter, was first spotted at London’s Wilton’s Music Hall, a venue revived from dereliction with all the atmosphere of old time entertainment. Little wonder The Arts theatre will be packed for the run ahead but if you can lay your mitts on an old time ticket – do. You’re in for a unique night in the theatre.
Cambridge Arts Theatre
Thursday 16 – Saturday 18 September Monday – Saturday, 7.30pm and Thursday & Saturday, 2.30pm
Tickets - £20/ £25 / £30/ £35
