University Theatre cancels 'Chaplin: The Musical' over concerns about his conduct with young girls

Last week, a university theatre club in New Zealand decided to cancel their upcoming production of Chaplin: The Musical after it had been discovered that the actor had a notorious past when it came to conduct with teenaged girls.

Instead, the University of Canterbury Musical Theatre Society (MUSOC) will be performing The Addams Family.

They made the following announcement on their Facebook page:

Kia Ora,

Over the past week, members of the club have raised concerns about the selected 2021 Spring show, Chaplin: The Musical, with regards to the predatory and inappropriate conduct of Charlie Chaplin during his life and career. Despite being documented by credible sources, this was something that we as an exec were unaware of when selecting this show. After a meeting and discussion with the production team, we have made the decision to change our 2021 Spring show from Chaplin: The Musical to The Addams Family Musical. The production team will remain the same and we are all very excited to have been approved the rights for this fantastic show.

We believe it is paramount that as a club we take the concerns of our members seriously, and we would never want anyone to feel uncomfortable or that their complaints are ignored. We thank those who reached out to us with this information, and extend our apologies for this sudden and unexpected change.

Despite the inconvenience, we encourage you to come and audition for The Addams Family Musical, and promise that this show will still be a fun, entertaining, and most importantly safe experience!

Thank you.

While some may be quick to point this out as another example of “cancel culture”, there are justified concerns about Chaplin’s conduct that have been whitewashed by some historians. According to Peter Ackroyd's 2014 biography Charlie Chaplin: A Brief Life, the writer details how Chaplin had numerous affairs with young women around or younger than the age of 18.

In 1918, Chaplin married 16-year-old Mildred Harris after the young actress informed him she was pregnant with his child. Just two years later, Chaplin met the 12-year-old who would become his next wife, Lillita MacMurray. She at the age of 16, also became pregnant out of wedlock; Chaplin, scared by the prospect of criminal charges, secretly married her in November 1924. She had two of his children before they divorced, amidst affairs and the failure of her career, in 1927.

In 1943, Chaplin married another much-younger woman, the Irish playwright Eugene O'Neill's daughter, Oona. Oona was 18; Chaplin, 54. They stayed together until his death in 1977.

While I am very aware that times were different in the early 20th century where young women were often married and having children before the age of 18, I can’t also fault a university for deciding that maybe now isn’t the best time to perform a musical based on Chaplin’s life. Especially when new attention has been given on improving gender roles on stage. I’ve never seen the musical myself. I didn’t get a chance to see the 2012 Broadway production with Rob McClure in the title role(which is was nominated for a Tony), but I see that both Mildred Harris and Oona have songs in the show.

But the news hasn’t stopped commenters on social media from clamoring that this is another example of “cancel culture”.

One student felt this was a case where "cancel culture has gone too far".

"The cancel culture at the University of Canterbury is now so extreme that we can't put on a play about Chaplin," he said.

"A few fragile, but loud, students complained that Charlie Chaplin was a womanizer’ so they 'wouldn't feel safe' in a play about him.

Again, this is a dumb take. There is nothing wrong with a student theatre group, with apparently a large female base, deciding against doing a show that glorifies a man whose conduct with young women was questionable 100 years ago and illegal today. I have no problem with them selecting another show that provides better opportunities for female members. Whether or not you think The Addams Family is that kind of show, is up to you.

But this isn’t “cancel culture”. There was no “woke” Twitter mob protesting. The group apparently wasn’t pressured by an outside group. They listened to the concerns within their membership and changed course. I don’t see anything wrong with that and you shouldn’t either. I wish more theatre education settings would think more about the material they select to produce.

Does this mean that Chaplin: The Musical should be “cancelled” or never performed again? I’m not saying that. But if theatre groups decide not to produce it based on the non-fictional aspects of his life, I won’t fault them for it.