HE went from working in a call centre to taking centre stage in an internationally renowned theatre production.

Actor Doug Child from Bournemouth, is currently playing four roles in The Circus of Horrors which celebrates its 21st anniversary this year with its latest incarnation, The Never-Ending Nightmare.

The show plays at Lighthouse, Poole’s Centre for the Arts tonight, rather appropriate, perhaps, for Friday the 13th.

“It is the perfect date to play at the Lighthouse isn’t it?,” laughs Doug. “We couldn’t have timed it any better, but you can’t be superstitious when you work in The Circus of Horrors can you?”

Looking at his portfolio, Doug appears to have a penchant for playing an array of characters that are either mad, bad or both.

In the current show he starts off start off as Camp Dracula, then he plays a scary nun and a priest and finally a killer clown.

“I’ve had some strange roles in my time,” he agrees. “My first role was a kinky butler and some years ago I played Herr Flick in Allo Allo at the Regent Centre in Christchurch.”

But it was this role with a local amateur dramatic group that proved to be his big break.

“I knew the girlfriend of the boss of The Circus of Horrors and they came to see me at the Regent and five years later here I am!”

It’s certainly a far cry from the early days of working at a call centre in Bournemouth. Before that Doug, a former Portchester School pupil, played the Mad Hatter at Alice in Wonderland at Hurn before it became Adventureland.

“I started working there when I was 18 and stayed until I was about 24 or so, but I prefer playing baddies,” he chuckles. “They’re much more fun - not that you get many nice characters in The Circus of Horrors.”

In fact, the show may just have been responsible for one of last year’s biggest horror crazes. Creator, Dr Haze, believes the scary clown phenomenon that swept the United States and then terrorised the UK last summer. The show’s creator Dr Haze has been quoted as saying the clown could have begun after people saw killer clowns at the circus.

“In our tour last year we introduced clowns for the first time, we haven’t had them before, I don’t know why, but it caused quite a reaction at first,” says Doug.

“Some people said they wouldn’t come and see the show any more, but of course they did, but then Coulrophobia [a fear of clowns] - is quite common.

“I was a bit queasy about the idea of playing a killer clown myself to be honest but I had to get over it it!”

Doug explains he had a bad experience with a clown he encountered at the Dorset Steam Fair when he was around eight years old.

“I was stood in a queue for an ice cream and a man dressed up as clown came up behind me and burst my balloon - it gave me a real fright. I’d always been a bit wary of clowns after that!”

But Doug feels that comparing a killer clown at the circus to the horror clown craze is a bit of a stretch.

“If you come to The Circus of Horrors then you know what to expect, but if you are out doing your shopping and some idiot dressed up as a clown jumps out and tries to scare you then that’s out of order.”

Doug says it takes around half an hour to put on his clown costume and make up.

“When we are rehearsing I don’t really like it because I don’t feel I’m in character, but as soon as you’re in full make up with the latex mask, the wig and the costume - you don’t even have to act that much because you look so scary anyway.”

And it’s not just about the performance - all the cast are involved in the whole production from start to finish.

“We do everything from building the set, and getting ready, to doing the show, taking the set down and then driving to the next place because we are normally only in one place for one night.”

But Doug says although he enjoys life on the road, he still sees Bournemouth as his home.

“I miss being settled at home sometimes, but I love living on the road because it is so varied.

“One day you could be in a theatre, the next you could be in a big top, or it could be a random job somewhere like a Bar Mitzvah in a posh hotel.”

Annually The Circus of Horrors plays to over 100 UK theatres and this tour has expanded to take in festivals throughout the world including The Fuji Rock Festival in Japan, the Wacken Festival in Germany plus shows in Chile, Uruguay, Holland, Belgium, Argentina, France, Italy, Ireland, Finland, Hong Kong and Moscow, where it became the first UK circus ever to perform in Russia.

This is not the first time that The Circus of Horrors has created history as it became the only circus to reach the finals of Britain’s Got Talent and the first circus to perform in London’s West End for over 100 years.

Its appearances on various subsequent TV shows have turned what started as a cult show into a household name – taking the extreme to the mainstream. Its TV credits boast The X Factor, The Slammer, Daybreak, Fairground Attractions, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Body Shockers, Fake Reaction, This Morning, Ant & Dec, The One Show and A Royal Command Performance.

“It has taken me to countries I’ve never seen before which I enjoy and Britain’s Got Talent really helped to up the show’s profile because before that it had a certain fan base of people but after BGT people who wouldn’t normally go to something like that decided to go along.”

Doug says there are around 21 people involved in the current production.

“We will be on the road together now until the end of March and then back on the road again from October to December.

“We have worked together for years so we’re like a big family - I know it sounds a bit cheesy but that’s kind of how it is.

“Occasionally you might want to lock yourself in the toilet for a few hours to get away from them all for a while but that’s how you survive! Most of the time we get on really well though.”

The only downside, says Doug, are the long hours.

“You might finish a show in Southampton and your next gig could be in Newcastle, so you have a six hour drive to get there, you get in at 5am and then have to be up by 8am the next day and start over again.”

You have to watch when you are walking around in the dark might trip over a dwarf.

As with any live performance, Doug says things do go wrong occasionally.

“We’ve had people fall off the stage and break their leg, but rather than take time off, they’re wheeled on to the stage for the next performance and carry on.”

Doug adds: “You have to love what you do. I think if somebody said I would have to go back to working in a call centre now I would be really depressed!”