From the moment the show begins, with the ring master appearing in a wheelchair, accompanied by a non-actor in a state-of-the-art electric wheelchair, signing the script in BSL, the audience knew they were in for something different. In addition, two screens either side of the stage subtitled the script. This was a performance not only by the D/deaf and disabled but for the D/deaf and disabled. Non-disabled cast members also performed. It was a truly inclusive experience.

This musical is newly composed. The powerful story is set in Nazi Germany pre second world war.

The tight band produced extraordinary sounds and the group singing was marvelous. Jonny Leitch epitomized the whole ethos, with his fantastic drumming and his extraordinary performance on the trapeze while acting as a key character in the story.

The characters are gradually revealed as the story progresses. Each must decide how they will cope under this new regime. At first they think they can keep their unique position, secure within the circus, but they can’t. The regime wants to use them as performers but considers them “freaks” that needed sterilizing. The most powerful part of the play is the denouement after the death of Mosh, a deaf clown, who is killed by Nazi thugs for daring to go out of the circus. Here all the characters’ futures are revealed. Some disappear, presumably murdered by the Nazis, others are known to have died in concentration camps.  We also learn who resisted and who didn’t. Waldo is not quite the selfish ringmaster we’d assumed.

The show was long and could probably do with some cutting to maintain the pace. For example, we know that the Nazis are rising in power and having three actors playing drunk (always difficult to do convincingly) party members was not entertaining. The set was beautiful. Ti Green based her design on Chagall’s circus prints. The bright costumes gradually got duller as the regime’s power increased. The downside is that you are not actually in a big top with trapeze artists swinging above you and the smell of sawdust in your nostrils, so the carnival atmosphere was difficult to reproduce.  

This is a show out of the ordinary. One song is performed by a single artist in BSL and then sung by the whole cast out loud. The show won’t suit everybody, the multimedia aspect could be too distracting for some, but if you roll up to this Big Top, you will definitely be entertained, you will have to think, and have your prejudices questioned.

★★★☆☆  Keith Erskine 22 March 2023