Charlie And Stan

Actions speak louder than words, and boy did this show shout out “ Genius!”

An idea by Irene Cotton grew, and blossomed into this masterpiece of Physical Theatre, presented by Told By An Idiot Theatre Company.

Written and directed by Paul Hunter, inspired by real life events, this was a hilarious and moving homage to Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel, two men who changed the world of comedy forever.

A great drum solo by Nick Haverson, playing Frank Karno kicked off 90 marvellous minutes of mirth and mayhem. There were lots of wonderful little amusing asides and actions too, starting with seagulls dive bombing the hapless drummer, which got us all giggling from the get go.

My guest and I were struck with awe and wonder at the talent of the four-hander cast, who made looking clumsy into an art form, throwing themselves into slapstick routines with passion and conviction. You felt like there should have been a sign: “Don’t try this at home folks, it’s not as easy as it looks!"

Sara Alexander was sensational, not only performing silent movie music live on the piano, but providing spot on sound effects, and comically timed interactions with the cast, and on some occasions the audience ( who were great sports entering into the spirit of the production ). She also demonstrated that she was a versatile actor too, doubling up as Charlie’s mother in a flashback to his early life.

It was stunning to see how much was communicated to us by facial expressions and body language.

Nick Haverson, Jerone Marsh-Reid ( Stan Laurel ) and Danielle Bird ( Charlie Chaplin ) kept us engaged and hooked with their physical comedy, with clever choreography telling their story clearly. Just in case you needed a bit of a prompt to follow the story, there was an occasional subtitle projected onto a rich red curtain to keep us all on track.

The set of the boat, designed by Iona Curelea was used brilliantly by this talented trio, as we saw different stages in both Charlie and Stan’s lives through flash backs and flash forwards, with Fred Karno, their manager and music hall empresario constantly reminding them with gusto that he held the purse strings.

From the poignancy of the doctor coming to take away Charlie’s mother, to the frying pan frolics, and Nick Haverson’s transformation on stage into Oliver Hardy, this was a delight to watch from start to finish.