Showing @ Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh until Mon 25 Aug @ 12:20
Aside from nostalgic value, Chaplin sadly has little to offer its audience. For a play about one of the greatest satirists and most eloquent men of the twentieth century, it is disappointingly over-sentimental and lacking in substance.
The script is made up entirely of clichéd phrases and the actors struggle to bring any depth to the two-dimensional character this inevitably creates. Structured through narration and flash-back, its non-naturalistic tendencies attempt to create some kind of poignant contrast (or is it continuity?) between “now” and “then”, yet simply give it an amateur, unpolished feel. We are rushed through the big, life-changing events in Chaplin’s history so that the play operates continuously on a high-frequency level. There is a lack of emotional and psychological variety, which makes it difficult to connect to the performance.
Moments in which original film footage are shown create interesting artistic contrast however, and serve as a reminder of how delightful a subject Chaplin is. The undeniably touching nature of his story also brings a warmth to the experience. If you’re a lover of Charlie Chaplin you might enjoy this simply for the homage it pays to him, but for others its a little too superficial.