Review: CHARLIE WARD AT HOME

Commissioned as part of the events marking the centenary of the First World War, Sound&Fury's Charlie Ward is now available as a standalone online experience titled Charlie Ward at Home. Originally created as an immersive installation for ten people at a time in a makeshift hospital tent, the production places the public in the shoes of a wounded and bed-bound soldier - as much as that's possible today.

To boost the morale of the healing men, the staff has arranged for a Charlie Chaplin film to be shown against the ceiling of the tent. For Harry, Chaplin's By The Sea kick-starts a series of memories in true Proustian fashion. The brief 20-minute video is quite affecting from the start, with the laughs coming from the nearby beds creating an oxymoron with the awareness of the harrowing situation they're in.

Through the use of binaural sound and clever editing, flashes from happier, carefree times invade Harry's subconscious and make their way among the explosions before turning into anxiety-filled, German-speaking, war-ridden breathy flashbacks of the battlefield. Mixed with the right music, even Chaplin transforms into a fearsome entity in the soldier's eyes.

Charlie Ward at Home manages to be melancholic and heart-wrenching even in this toned down and homemade state. It creates a drastic clash between the comfort of our home where we might be watching it and the audiovisual fully immersive experience that we're undergoing. A dark room and a projector may ease the audience in a more complete manner, but these elements are not eventually strictly necessary: Sound&Fury's piece will do its job anyway.

Book your free ticket for Charlie Ward at Home here.

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