City Lights

The ballet City Lights is based on one of Charlie Chaplin’s most tender and enduring masterpieces, a film that speaks directly to the heart without ever needing spoken words. At its core is the Tramp—Chaplin’s iconic, gentle wanderer— who stumbles through life with a mix of awkwardness, dignity, and unshakeable hope. In this story, he encounters a blind flower girl who mistakes him for a wealthy gentleman. Moved by her kindness and fragility, he becomes determined to help her, not out of vanity, but out of a deep and selfless love.
At the same time, the Tramp befriends a millionaire after saving his life, however the millionaire only recognises the tramp when drunk, creating a bittersweet cycle of generosity followed by cold rejection. Through these encounters, the tramp explores the contrasts between wealth and poverty, illusion and reality, and the quiet heroism of those who give more than they have.
The Tramp’s mission becomes raising enough money to stop the eviction of the blind flower girl and her grandmother and to restore the girl’s sight leading to both comedic misadventures and moments of profound sacrifice including taking a job as a road sweeper and an amateur boxer. By the ballet’s end—after hardship, the tramp’s imprisonment, and heartbreak—the girl regains her vision. When she finally sees the Tramp as he truly is, the recognition between them is gentle, uncertain, and achingly human.
Set in a city poised between the last sparkle of the Roaring Twenties and the emerging Great Depression, City Lights is a story of love that transcends appearances, kindness that survives humiliation, and hope that endures even when life is at its hardest. City Lights is not just a comedy; it is a timeless story of compassion.

— Alastair Marriott