Laurel and Chaplin: The Feud, Preview

A promo video has dropped for Laurel & Chaplin: The Feud, and what a hoot it looks, combining classic slapstick routines with an intriguing true story.

Long before Laurel and Hardy, Stan Laurel worked with another comedy giant, Charlie Chaplin. They toured America together for three years and shared a room on the road.

Then, after Chaplin was talent-spotted by Keystone Studios and catapulted to silver screen fame, they never spoke to each other again.

To find out what happened, catch Laurel & Chaplin: The Feud at London's Cambridge Theatre on Monday nights from 24 July to 28 August and Blackpool Winter Gardens from 30 August to 2 September.

 

Why did Stan Laurel hate Charlie Chaplin? A new show, Laurel and Chaplin - the Feud, will reveal all!

 

Some shows just have a fantastic premise and Laurel & Chaplin - the Feud sounds like it's going to be the must-have ticket of this summer.

Mixing a dramatic play with slapstick comedy and circus skills, the show tells the true but little-known story of how two of the big screen's greatest funny men - Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin - began their career as roommates, touring the music halls with showman Fred Karno... until something went wrong.

Created by Jon Conway and starring his son Jordan Conway as Chaplin, and Matt Knight as Laurel, the show's all-action routines were honed during 200 performances at Butlins Holiday Resorts as the Crazy Comedy Company, before an acclaimed appearance on the Edinburgh Fringe.

Catch the show at London's Cambridge Theatre from 24 July to 28 August, and at Blackpool Winter Gardens from 29 August to 2 September.

For more info and bookings, click here.

Chaplins Circus brings exciting new concept to the big top

Following my last post about the need for big top shows to offer something special if they're to draw audiences from cosy indoor venues comes news of an exciting new show to tour Britain this year.

Chaplins Circus is a theatrical show about the backstage drama of a 1920s circus and it will be travelling the country in one of the biggest big tops on the road - all the better to accommodate its finale human cannonball stunt!

A poster for the real
Charlie Chaplin's
film The Circus
- which was the 7th
highest-grossing film of
all time.

Chaplins Circus is the brainchild of Charlie Pakdel, a veteran Charlie Chaplin imitator; Mark Foot, who ran away with the circus at the age of 8 and went on to run one of the biggest suppliers of seasonal entertainment to shopping malls; and Gary Stocker, a street entertainer and magician.

The show opens in Highfield Park, St Albans, May 24 - June 1. Info: www.chaplinscircus.com

Given these PC times, the circus features no animals, which is fair enough, and, because they're deemed too scary, no clowns. But hang on, wasn't Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp a hobo clown?