Circus Fire - Theaterworks Hartford

The world premiere of Circus Fire, the latest production by Theaterworks Hartford, is a captivating, multimedia production chronicling the July 1944 Hartford Circus Fire, one of the deadliest blazes in U.S. history.  The show has been moved from the theater’s home on Pearl Street to the historic First Company Governor’s Foot Guard building at 159 High Street in downtown Hartford.  The show is performed in-the-round, with audience members seated in “bigtop” bleachers.  Playwright Jacques Lamarre has delved into a huge repository of historical and public documents, newspaper articles, court records and books on the subject to fashion a gripping narrative.  

Godfrey L. Simmons in Circus Fire.  Photo by Curtis Brown.

The play starts innocently enough.  A family – mother, father, and teenage daughter – are looking for the Circus Fire monument in Hartford.  A friendly neighbor shows them the spot, which is covered for repairs.  They peel back the tarp to take a look – I got goosebumps at this moment – and the circus begins.  Lamarre has broken the 90-minute, intermission-less show into three parts – denizens of Hartford preparing for arrival of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the performance, and the horrific aftermath.  Intertwined in these storylines is an investigator (a penetrating Godfrey L. Simmons, Jr.) seeking answers to the cause of the inferno, which took 167 lives and injured hundreds.  The actors and actresses – the largest cast in Theaterworks history – comes in from various entry points around the circular stage, performing multiple roles in front of the audience and in the catwalks high above the stage.   Added to the whirlwind of movement are large, vivid projections on the walls and ceiling of the building, which provide real-time footage of the events including the build-up to the tragedy and the fire itself.

Members of the cast in Circus Fire.  Photo by Curtis Brown.

Playwright Jacques Lamarre, Director Jared Mezzocchi, and Theaterworks Artistic Director are listed as having conceived the show.  All provide critical components to make Circus Fire such a riveting and spellbinding production.  Mezzocchi has superbly taken all the creative aspects of the show – Brian Prather’s restrained, but powerful Set Design, Rob Denton’s illumtinating Lighting Design, and Lindsay Jones’ Original Music and pulsating Sound Design – as well as his own Multimedia Experience and fashioned a vibrant, heart-stopping play that should not be missed.

 

Mike Boland in Circus Fire.  Photo by Curtis Brown.

The acting corps is tremendous as they portray so many characters from everyday housewives to ordinary circus workers to flummoxed politicians.  Out of the 12 performers, three need to singled out - Mike Boland, who is notable as a circus employee as well as Emmett the Clown; Godfrey Simmons, Jr., who in addition to his role as the investigator, makes a convincing ringmaster; and Janelle Anne Robinson, who enlivens so many characters, but most touchingly as a worker at the makeshift city morgue.

 

Godfrey L. Simmons and members of the cast in Circus Fire.  Photo by Curtis Brown.

Circus Fire, playing at the First Company Governor’s Foot Guard building at 159 High Street in downtown Hartford through May 31.  An event not to be missed.  Click here for dates, times, and ticket information.