AMT productions presents Murder at the Three Ring Circus at Ellesmere Port Civic Hall. This is no ordinary theatre production as you are transported to the Circus as soon as you enter, with different acts dotted around the bar area, posters of the main acts hanging from the ceiling and little stalls dotted around to entice and involve you from the beginning.
Once the main ‘Circus’ is open, we enter the auditorium which has been fully transformed to make you feel like you’re in a big Circus tent, with seating around three sides of the Circus Ring.
The set up is brilliant, with ‘backstage’ announcements taking place from the stage manager and the acts running around getting ready for the show. The show takes place over two levels, with the main story taking place down at audience level, which creates the backstage area, and the main Circus shows taking place on the main theatre stage. The way they have used this space is so inventive and so different to any way I have seen it used before.
The story, written by Bradley Bowckett, follows a group of Circus performers both on stage and off, when one act gets killed during a performance and we follow the stories of all the acts of their history with the Circus and the reasons why they may or may not be the murderer.
At first it was a little confusing trying to figure out who the characters were and their relationships but as you go along, it unfolds and you start to understand who is who. Are they real? Are they ghosts? You’ll have to wait and find out.
The cast work so hard throughout this show, with so many characters, it’s a great ensemble piece where the story includes every character and gives each actor a chance to shine.
Lydia Foxley as Gloria Clemmings is confident as the Circus owner and Ring master, delivering some emotional scenes and beautiful vocals. Chloe Davies as Dorabella shows her versatility with some great acting choices, lovely vocals and some fantastic dance moves. Josh O’Sullivan has just the right amount of sleeze and conniving as Jett Danger and John Sprung-Murphy plays the innocent/sinister Jester, Reece Daniels perfectly while also delivering some incredible dance moves. Caitlyn Novak is wonderful as the clown Fizbop and Leah Dovey-Evans is a beautiful ballerina who also adds an extra level of communication with some sign language.
Abigail Bradbury definitely had her hands full both directing and choreographing this piece and I must say all that hard work definitely paid off. Choreography was incredible with small intimate numbers to the larger scale company numbers, I enjoyed every one of them. Music and songs for the most were great and fitting for the piece so big well done to Musical Director Laurie Waring. Lighting by Derek Bosely is brilliant and compliments the piece perfectly, not an easy job when using so many parts of the theatre that are not usually used in this way. Sound designed by Max Wilson was good for the most but this did cause most of the issue of the piece for me. I think a few factors came in to play including the acoustics of the different spaces, to music being played a little too loud during dialogue and a big one was projection from certain cast members. Even with a microphone, projection is needed, there are a lot of people in the audience and you need to be heard. Even during some songs, the lower starting just couldn’t be heard.
One other thing I found distracting was when the main ‘act’ was happening on stage, the people at audience level blocked us seeing all that hard work on stage which was a little sad. I also would have liked the cast come out for proper recognition at the end as it seemed to just finish.
Stage manager Clinton Ball and team have done a fantastic job bringing all the aspects together and must mention that there were little groups of captains to assist throughout as Music captains, dance captains and acting captains.
Overall, this is a fantastic evening of entertainment from a super hard working group of people. It’s wonderful to see community theatre back at the Civic Hall and showing us the talent we have out there.
Thank you AMT productions for a great night of entertainment and mystery.
Reviewer Damian Riverol
Reviewed: 1st May 2025
North West End UK Rating: