Love it or hate it, The Rocky Horror Show has firmly ensconced itself in popular culture, and now as it celebrates its 51st birthday, it has moved from cult favourite to enduring classic. The content might not be quite as shocking to a modern audience as it was in 1973, but the show is still debauched enough to garner gasps and giggles in all the right places.
It feels like Rocky has barely ever left the stage, with international tours, West End visits and riotous regional runs, so it would be easy for the endless party to get a little old and creaky. However, "give yourself over to absolute pleasure" is the lyric, and audiences are in for a fabulously camp treat with this new cast that brim with energy and charisma. While the style of cinema that’s parodied is now a distant memory and there are references to old movie stars that will go over most people’s heads, the power of rock 'n’ roll propels the show forward, and the mostly fast-tempo numbers performed by a highly animated cast create a fun atmosphere that offers an unashamedly good time.
For any Rocky Horror virgins concerned about the famed audience interaction, there is no need to worry. It’s expected and, in some places, anticipated by the experienced cast, and Christopher Luscombe’s direction establishes that there’s a clear etiquette on when’s it’s appropriate to chime in. The best advice is to follow along with an existing fan; they’ll likely be in costume encouraging everyone to their feet for "The Time Warp". Or if interaction simply isn’t on the cards, sit back and enjoy the patter—it’s all part of the experience.
The paper-thin plot is whatever you want to make it, be that love story, sci-fi or both. It follows clean-cut kids Brand and Janet (Connor Carson and Laura Chia) who are newly engaged and on their way to tell their ex-teacher and now friend Dr Scott (Edward Bullingham) about their good news. On the way, they get a flat tyre, so they decide to walk to the nearest house to ask to use the telephone. What then ensues is a night of mad science and playful seduction that lures Brad and Janet into losing their inhibitions as they give in to temptation. It’s a show that’s witty, sexy, naughty and, yes, vulgar too, but it never takes itself too seriously.
Case in point, the audience are provided with an ominous narrator who pops up at various points to explain the plot, complete with leather-bound book. The role has previously been played by a whole host of actors and celebrities, and this time Mawaan Rizwan dons the dinner jacket, giving the character a much younger and sassier vibe. Clearly at home working with the audience, this already assured performance is likely to grow and develop even further as the run continues.
As the naive ingénues, Carson and Chia work well together giving Brad and Janet some extra vocal welly that isn’t present in all productions. Their introduction may be schmaltzy and Chia may simper as the damsel in distress, but they avoid making the characters irritating and in turn don’t get irritated by the audience interjections of “arsehole” and “slut”. Much like panto love interests, Brad and Janet are in some ways the most difficult characters to balance, as we need to believe just how far outside their comfort zone they really are.
When they arrive at the ‘Frankenstein Place’, they are initially greeted by Riff Raff (Job Greuter), Magenta (Natasha Hoeberigs) and Columbia (Jayme-Lee Zanoncelli), who are a truly a triple-threat trio with larger-than-life characterisation capturing the spirit of previous performers but with their own subtle twists. They are ably supported by a chorus of ‘Phantoms’ who twitch, laugh, lurk and break into dance routines at the drop of a hat or click of gloved fingers.
They are in service, of course, to Frank N Furter, the sweet transvestite from Transexual, Transylvania, and from his first entrance, it’s clear that Jason Donovan’s Frank, while commanding in his corset and heels, is also louche and languid. Clutching his pearls, playing with his floppy wig and waggling his tongue, he is dominant and impish, imperious and petulant, but above all dangerous. His often-deadpan delivery and occasional slip into Australian accent for comedic effect the funny flip side to a coin that that later reveals real pathos.
But what of the mad science? What’s in Frank’s lab that makes him skip the stage like a giddy schoolgirl? It’s Rocky, a muscle man grown in a lab as Frank’s pet project who shares a brain with Eddie the delivery boy who is stashed in Frank’s freezer. As Rocky, Morgan Jackson is perfectly cast, a completely innocent vocal and facial delivery contrasting with his muscle flexing and acrobatics. His antics are disturbed temporarily by Eddie (also played by Edward Bullingham), who makes full use of his limited stage time tearing up "Hot Patootie".
Hugh Durrant’s almost cartoonish set perfectly evokes B-movies, providing an appropriately unreal setting to Sue Blane’s careful costuming and Nathan M Wright’s vigorous choreography. Nick Richings's lighting design and Gareth Owen’s sound design keep proceedings sharp and colourful, ensuring that while the source material is from the 1970s, the quality of the experience is bang up-to-date.
If you’re prepared to lean into the zany world of Rocky Horror and forgive its rather chaotic conclusion, there is much to enjoy in a show that might be over 50 but is certainly not a museum piece.