Major Primary School Project on Chaplin
Utilising the iconic figure of south London’s own Charlie Chaplin, over 100 London South Bank University trainee teachers and an estimated 300 children and teachers at 5 local primary schools are working on a local history project this term which looks at “Charlie Chaplin’s South London”.
Apart from the input of students and teachers, theatre educators, artists, local historians and film-makers will be working alongside children at St John’s, St Peter’s, Crampton, Surrey Square Infants and Surrey Square Junior school (All in Chaplin’s birthplace of Walworth).
The culmination of this cross-curricular project will be a dramatic performance of children’s work on the late Victorian London of Chaplin’s childhood at the Unicorn Theatre on Friday 27th June (1.30 pm)
Invited guests include : * Simon Hughes MP * the Mayors of Lambeth and Southwark and * leading Chaplin fan, TV personality Paul Merton.
In addition to these schools, over 20 more Lambeth and Southwark schools have been invited to participate in the project and the best contributions from children in all these schools will be considered for inclusion in an accompanying book on the subject, written by LSBU historian Dr Alan Parkinson. This book is likely to be “launched” early in December, at the same time as the initial screening of Peter Wyeth’s documentary film on Chaplin’s London.