Laurel & Hardy, arguably the most important and influential comedy partnership of all time, will be celebrated in 2026 with a new 100th anniversary touring show, presented by TV personality, musician and world authority on silent films, Neil Brand.
The Laurel & Hardy Centenary Tour will visit Swansea Grand Theatre on 14th March where the audience will be taken back in time to the era of the silent film, where the music was played live and often improvised alongside the moving picture.
Two newly restored films, ‘The Finishing Touch’ and ‘You’re Darn Tootin’, will be screened, the latter featuring Neil Brand performing his own acclaimed soundtrack to the film, and audience participation in the sound effects! Freshly restored clips from a further eleven classic Laurel & Hardy films will be shown, with a level of clarity never-before-seen.
Audiences will be treated to a unique evening of fun, music and insight as Neil reveals the techniques of silent film and how the comedy of Laurel & Hardy is heightened with piano accompaniment. Each show will finish with an audience Q&A.
Neil Brand said:
“Every show on this tour will be different because – just as one hundred years ago – the music will be improvised. I am going to take audiences back in time: we’ll run the films and I will improvise dramatic music at the piano. The Laurel & Hardy Centenary Tour is designed to give people a great night of entertainment, a little history and a chance to witness, in remarkable new clarity, the starting point of a partnership that revolutionised global entertainment.”
