A confession. It’s 1973 and I’m in the Chelsea Classic Cinema on London’s hip Kings Road. According to the pre-show publicity I was too young. Nothing could stop me, I’d heard all about it and I was determined to be part of what had rapidly become a rock musical phenomenon. The cinema seats were grubby, red velvet and probably riddled with fleas, we called all cinemas “flea pits” back then. As we waited for the show to begin members of the cast wearing those grotesque plastic masks often seen in horror movies would sporadically pop up all over the theatre to freak us out. They did. An atmosphere was created and we were ready for whatever would happen next. What happened was one of the earliest performances of Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show. It was subversive, liberating and countercultural. I was hooked and saw the show fourteen times in the next few months. I learned the lyrics, sang it incessantly and encouraged all my other underage friends to check it out.
Wind forward fifty years and last night I was in suburban Woking at the New Victoria Theatre to see the very same show, part of a UK tour. There have been countless productions all over the world (there is also a film version), it has won numerous awards and just last week Richard O’Brien, who now lives in New Zealand, explained how he came to write it, inspired as he was by science fiction, B horror movies and rock’n roll. It now has conic status and if yesterday was anything to go by it will live on for at least another fifty years by which time Artificial Intelligence will be writing all musicals, playing the instruments, singing the songs and writing the reviews. Until that time allow me…
The theatre was buzzing. People dressed in a wide variety of outfits, imitating characters from the show, were vying for our attention. Fishnets, thongs, stilettos, feather boas, wigs and other amazing hairpieces and everything in between were on display, belonging to bodies of all shapes and sizes. A living advert for diversity and inclusion. I went for something far more comfortable and anonymous, jeans and a T-shirt. If only they knew my connection with the show. Talking of which, let’s do the time warp again…
It opens with the Usherette, working in a rundown cinema, introducing that nights film in Science Fiction/Double Feature, a song that is both humorous and plaintive, perfectly setting the scene for the fun and craziness that follows. After attending a wedding Brad Majors confesses his love to Janet Weiss singing Dammit Janet. A Narrator appears and explains that Brad and Janet are leaving Denton to visit Dr Everett Scott, their former science tutor, while driving into a rainstorm. A flat tyre sees them going in search of a phone and they end up at the castle of Frank N Furter, greeted by his “handyman” Riff Raff. A few minutes later Riff Raff and his Transylvanian sister Magenta, joined by other remembers of an exuberant company, have whipped the theatre up into a frenzy of excitement as they lead us through the show’s signature dance number, Time Warp. Bearing in mind this audience was made up of anyone from teenagers to octogenarians their dance moves were a sight to behold. Come what may they were all having an absolute ball. The dance ends and soon heralds the entrance of a cross dressing transvestite, Frank N Furter. In 1973 it had Mary Whitehouse et al screaming at how they were “corrupting our youth”. If only they knew. In Woking 2023 the audience were lapping it up, living as they do in a world of gender fluidity, a growing transexual community and self-identification.
The songs that follow are a brilliant melange, conjured up in O’Briens’ mind, that pay homage to various genres while simultaneously smiling at their absurdity. Rocky, Franks perfect creation which mimics the Frankenstein story, emerges singing The Sword of Damocles (“is hanging over my head”) while Frank sings of Charles Atlas and I Can Make You a Man and the show culminates in an orgiastic sex scene where the company sing Don’t Dream It – Be It. It remains a night out to remember or as the Narrator says “It was a night they (Brad and Janet) would never forget. Over time the iconic status of the show has encouraged a singalong cum pantomime atmosphere and so it was last night as the eclectically clad audience members would regularly shout out often lewd and crude comments which Philip Franks (Narrator) navigated with clever discernment, each riposte a perfect put down or a touché moment.
Hayley Flaherty (Janet) and Richard Meek (Brad) are a terrific ‘apple pie’ couple, and Kristian Lavercombe (Riff-Raff) and Suzie McAdam (Magenta – she also plays the Usherette) bring comical, stolid Transylvanian absurdity to proceedings. Stephen Webb meanwhile brings a delicious mix of narcissism and psychosis to the deranged Frank N Furter with a slightly odd accent which perversely seems appropriate for the character. Remembering back fifty years the first half is still stronger with the second half having moments that are too drawn out but redeemed by the time the castle is blasted back to the “land of Transexual”. Concluding the tale the Narrator says “and crawling on the planet’s face, insects called the human race, lost in time, and lost in space – and meaning.” As the show ends, The Usherette returns to recount the night’s events with a reprise of Science Fiction/Double Feature. Sounds like a nice gentle ending except for a raucous encore by which time the whole theatre is up and Time Warping. You could be too…
New Victoria Theatre Woking until Saturday 22 July and then on tour
www.atgtickets.com/venues/new-victoria-theatre