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.
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 a homage to two men who changed the world of comedy forever.
The cast comprises Sara Alexander, returning to HOME in Manchester February 4–8 after appearing in Bryony Kimmings’s A Pacifist’s Guide to the War on Cancer in 2016; Nick Haverson, a regular on TV in series such as Scott and Bailey and Casualty; newcomer Jerone Marsh-Reid, who has a background in breakdancing; and Amalia Vitale, recently heard as the voice of Lula in Farmageddon, the recent Shaun the Sheep film, as Charlie Chaplin.