What do Charlie Chaplin, rapping and climate change have in common?

They’re three topics that have been covered by performers at our leading arts project, ROC Creative.

Not your standard education service, ROC Creative is dedicated to producing artists (and having fun!).

Recovering from Coronavirus

Coronavirus was a tricky time for all of us – we all remember March 2020 and the way our routines changed overnight.

What is less talked about, is how tricky it was to come out of Coronavirus, and how strange those first steps back out into the world were. 

The ROC Creative team decided Charlie Chaplin was the perfect thing to tempt our drama group back into the classroom, and so students started learning about films from a hundred years ago.

A lot of people face blocks that stop them engaging with Chaplin’s work. We might think the films are too old, or too black and white, to be worth watching anymore. But the students saw past that straight away, and fell in love with the humour of them.

Cheryl Cooper, Support Worker (Drama) explained:

We didn’t know how they’d find it, but they all loved it!

Bringing Charlie Chaplin back to the big screen

The film follows Chaplin’s life story – covering his parents’ courtship and their wedding, his birth, his father’s death and his journey to stardom.

Filmed on location, the film takes us through a variety of different settings – a pier (transformed into a cruise ship!), a church, and even a dance hall.

A wedding like no other! The film celebrates the wedding of Charlie Chaplin’s parents.

The skilful comedy, partially improvised, draws closely from Chaplin’s performance style. The care and the fun that was had during the filming shines through in the piece, as does the collaboration that made it all possible.

ROC Creative includes actors, artists, musicians and more – and Charlie Chaplin gave everyone the chance to come together and do what they do best: make art.

Actors were not the only stars – sets and costumes leant themselves to the comedy, and worked beautifully on screen. Creating for black and white is a specific and tricky task, and the ROC Creative students rose to the challenge.

Watch the film

What did the stars think?

The stars and backstage heroes had a brilliant time producing the show, having fun while learning and creating together.

Sometimes the bloopers were so funny they practically belonged in a Charlie Chaplin film themselves, like this brilliant moment from the cruise scene:  

The bit I really enjoyed was doing the wedding scene and also pretending to feel sick on Charlie Chaplin’s boat. The wind blew our moustaches off, but then we just got on with it!

On the cruise ship – hold on to your moustaches!

This special project engaged people’s creativity, playfulness and humour. As one cast member explained:  

I absolutely loved every single bit of it

Listen to the cast interviews

ROC Drama is known as a ‘drama group like no other’. To find out more about ROC Creative, visit https://www.unitedresponse.org.uk/roc-wellbeing/.