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Marcel Cole – Smile!: The Charlie Chaplin Story

Smile! was one of the hits of the 2025 Adelaide Fringe. Marcel Cole’s solo homage to Hollywood’s great silent movie clown Charlie Chaplin returns to tell Chaplin’s story by way of a mix of mime based routines drawn from Chaplin’s films, biographical material taken from Chaplin’s memoir, and audience interaction The result brings Chaplin’s prevailing image of the little guy in the baggy suit with the moustache, hat and umbrella to vital new life.

 

“I was already a Chaplin fan after seeing his films, and I loved his book,” Cole says of the roots of Smile! “I never knew he had made talkie films and full length feature films as well as the silent movies, so I was very inspired by that.”

 

Cole came to Chaplin after training as a ballet dancer before switching to mime based comic performance after studying under legendary French clown Philippe Gaulier. Smile! follows his first self-penned show, Ukulele Man, about English music hall star George Formby.

 

Cole’s fascination with comic mavericks looks set to continue with plans for a new character based work influenced by the likes of Barrie Humphries and Andy Kaufman. In the meantime, the sell-out success of Smile! looks set to continue to introduce Chaplin’s genius to a new generation for some time.

 

“It's taking something that I really love and trying to share that and make it accessible to everyone,” Cole points out. “Because the show's not written for Chaplin fans. It's written for people who know nothing about Charlie Chaplin.”

 

Adelaide Fringe, The Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum, 19 February-8 March, 6.20pm.

 

The List Adelaide Festivals Guide, February 2026

 

ends

 

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