Review: THE STRANGE TALE OF CHARLIE CHAPLIN AND STAN LAUREL at Théâtre Des Capucins

You thought you knew more or less what to expect but, somehow, the entire show turned out to be a very refreshing surprise. Two days ago, the Théâtre des Capucins opened its doors to The Strange Tale of Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel, a Told by an Idiot production, written and directed by Paul Hunter. This two-night event looked pretty much sold out and featured an extremely diverse audience, something you might not expect from a silent theater performance. At the end of the evening, the cast remained available for questions from the public, something which has become a tradition at the Théâtre des Capucins.

The main story was centered around the boat trip that brought Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel to the United States, a few years before the First World War. While this is the conducting narrative of the play, there are multiple jumps in time that bring the cast to the past and the future, seeking to recreate childhood moments and scenes from later years. This alternated progression seems, at times, a bit too irregular, but it was a very reasonable move by Paul Hunter. Not only does it give the play its own unique charm, but it makes the pace more appealing to a 21st century audience. Presenting a silent theater play with a linear chronology, even with a fair amount of slapstick comedy, could be a dangerous gamble in 2020, when the common spectator has the attention span of a glorified gold fish.

The uniqueness of the format, however, was not limited to the tale's chronology - the harmonic combination between the acting and the music, played predominantly by actress Sara Alexander, was perhaps the strongest element of the performance. It was like seeing the soundtrack as an always-present overlaying character, that surrounded other components of the stage and interacted with the actors. This combination was done in a way that is not unusual in silent movies, but far less common, at least to this degree, in standard theater.

The role of Charlie Chaplin fell to Amalia Vitale, who managed to recreate Chaplin's cinematic mannerisms with uncanny similarity. When the situation required the comedic value of the Tramp, Vitale gave us the Tramp, but in scenes when the real person was required, the actress managed to tone down the mask and give us the man. It was also interesting to see how she did not fall to the mistake of turning Chaplin into a standard silent movie character. There silent cinema and there's this one particular legend. We lose perception of the distinction, because very few films from this era have come to receive our attention, but check out classics like Metropolis or Dr. Mabuse, and you will understand what we mean.

Nick Haverson, on the other hand, pretty much embodied this silent movie style in the multiple characters he played. From the tics to the glances at the camera, from the manner of walking to the general moving slightly faster than normal, his recreation of an atmosphere was absolutely flawless. The only thing distracting your attention from the established silent-era spirit was, in fact, the unavoidable sound made by steps and moving objects. Jerone Marsh-Reid played Stan Laurel, and did so in a very entertaining and well-paced manner, but could perhaps have been given more time to shine. He did a splendid job, for instance, conducting the most emotional scenes of the play, yet Laurel's part always ended up feeling a bit secondary to Chaplin's.

Yet another great night provided by our esteemed theaters of Luxembourg. Congratulations to everyone involved and please come back soon.

To reach out to the writer: nuno.de.sousa.lopes@gmail.com

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