Charlie Ward at home

CHARLIE WARD

AT HOME

Top ten dramas to enjoy at home Financial Times

★★★★ ‘Short, lucid and unforgettable’ Susannah Clapp, The Observer

★★★★ ‘Melancholic and heart-wrenching’ Cindy Marcolina, Broadway World

‘I saw it back in 2014 and I’ve never forgotten it’ Lyn Gardner, Stagedoor

C Ward. 1914. In a makeshift hospital, behind the front line, the war’s first casualties are treated. To boost morale, medical staff arrange for Chaplin films to be shown for the bed ridden, with the ward’s ceiling serving as the silver screen.

For one soldier, Harry, the flickering images, whirring projector and Chaplin’s perfect comic timing trigger complex emotions and memories. Cast from the trenches to childhood, from trauma to dreams, the hospital filmshow sets him on a journey into a personal no man's land.

During the COVID crisis theatre companies have been trying to find new and safe ways to present their work.

First staged in a makeshift hospital tent with beds for an audience of ten people with immersive surround sound, Charlie Ward has been creatively reimagined for 2020 so it can be presented as an art installation in your own home.

Charlie Ward at Home is an intimate, immersive and powerful piece that places you as a patient at the heart of a wartime hospital, where this unlikely therapy brings solace and comfort to those injured on the battlefield.

Using Sound&Fury’s distinctive style, immersive sound design and footage from Charlie Chaplin’s By The Sea, the extraordinary experience of being on Charlie Ward is conjured for our audience.

HOW TO ACCESS AND EXPERIENCE THE PIECE

You can book to experience Charlie Ward by clicking the button below (opens in new tab):

Book

Once you have booked a ticket, you will receive an email with a link to the piece and a reminder of our recommendations for experiencing the show at home:

Watch the piece lying in a quiet room, made as dark as possible.
If you can, listen using headphones.
If you are able to connect your device to a projector than set it up so the film can be projected onto the ceiling above you. If not, simply lie comfortably wherever you can see your screen.

The performance lasts just under 20 minutes.

Charlie Ward was originally co-commissioned by Fuel and 14-18 NOW - WW1 Centenary Art Commissions, supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund. It was first presented at the Cinema Museum, London in July 2014 as part of the 14-18 NOW cultural programme of extraordinary arts experiences that took place across the UK to mark the centenary of the First World War.

Produced by Fuel.

Credits

Co-created by Dan Jones, Tom Espiner and Mark Espiner

Videography: Jon Davey

Sound Designer: Dan Jones

Voices: Amanda Lawrence, Saskia Portway, Tom Espiner, Nicholas Mockridge, Jeremy Mockridge, Neil Haigh

Tour Production Manager: Tom Cotterill

Technical Manager: Sam Evans

Fuel Production Manager: Stuart Heyes

Producer: Kate McGrath

CHARLIE WARD

At HOME

CHARLIE WARD

AT HOME