Khaotic - The Fred Karno Story

Khaotic! Tells Karno’s life story from the age of 14 to his death at 75. It spans a turbulent period of British history from the late Victorian age of Empire, through the Edwardian era and into the roaring twenties and the golden age of silent movies. 

It combines new music written for the show with original music hall songs from Karno’s time giving the show both a freshness and a touch of familiarity to it’s audiences who can hardly resist singing along.

It is in parts hilarious, and in others heart wrenching, contrasting the hardships of life on the road for most music hall artists with the extraordinary wealth endowed on the successful few.

The show covers a wide timescale but this is made accessible with the use of a narrator, Fred Karno Junior (Freddie) who moves the action smoothly along, the ubiquitous newspaper vendor reminding us of the passage of time and the ever changing social context of the story.

Karno’s story is touched by the major events of the day, Jack the Ripper, The Dr Crippen case, The Titanic disaster, and of course two World Wars.

 Audiences are often surprised to learn the story of the early careers of Chaplin and Stan Laurel, and the show is immensely popular with fans of both. For the first time Karno’s original comedy sketches are recreated, proving that even comedy from a hundred years ago can still tickle the funny bone.