...with a possible West End run too

A silent comedy play about the time Stan Laurel worked with Charlie Chaplin is set to tour the UK this summer.

Charlie And Stan is set during an Atlantic crossing from Liverpool to New York, when both were unknown members of the  Fred Karno music hall players.

At the time - 1910 - Laurel was Chaplin’s understudy, and was more than a decade away from forming his partnersip with Oliver Hardy.

The Told By An Idiot troupe, which created the new play, point out that Chaplin never mentioned Laurel in his detailed autobiography, while Laurel talked about Chaplin all his life. 

Described as ‘playing fast and loose with the facts’, the unauthorised show - which debuted at the London Mime Festival last year - is billed as an ‘hilarious and deeply moving  homage to two men who changed the world of comedy forever.’

The show, written and directed by Paul Hunter and featuring an original piano score, will kick off its tour at the Theatre Royal Bath from July 14. There are plans for an eventual West end run.

Published: 9 Apr 2021