LET'S DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN!!!!
It's the first show of 2016 folks! And.... oh my God, what a show to start the year off with a BANG! This past week, I went along to Manchester's Opera House to catch the new UK tour of Richard O'Brien's brain-child The Rocky Horror Show!
A mix-match of ideas for many sci-fi B-rated films between the 1940s and 1970s, The Rocky Horror Show premiered on the London stage in 1973. It then transferred to Broadway in 1975 and then became an instant cult hit when the film The Rocky Horror Picture Show burst onto the silver screen in the same year; all three starred O'Brien as Riff Raff and the incredible Tim Curry as the Sweet Transvestite Dr Frank N Furter among others. The film has since come to have the longest running release in cinema history!
The story in short (if you don't know it), follows a newly engaged couple, who, on their way to meet a good friend, experience a night they "won't forget for a very long time" after their car breaks down close to a spooky-looking house. There, they meet many a colourful character, including the house's master Dr Frank N Furter, and his creation, Rocky Horror.
The story in short (if you don't know it), follows a newly engaged couple, who, on their way to meet a good friend, experience a night they "won't forget for a very long time" after their car breaks down close to a spooky-looking house. There, they meet many a colourful character, including the house's master Dr Frank N Furter, and his creation, Rocky Horror. SO given that it is such a classic, I had to at least see the experience for itself - and I will get on to that later, as there is no other show that give such a unique experience as seeing Rocky Horror.
The company included X Factor's Diana Vickers as Janet, Ben Freeman as Brad and S Club 7's Paul Cattermole as Eddie and Dr Scott. Though, while the whole company were definitely giving it their all, there is only 1 person I want to talk about at the end of the day - and that is Liam Tamne as Frank! When he got the part, Liam had just finished a run as Raoul in Phantom - talk about a character change! His performance was one of the funniest things I have ever seen in a theatre (and also the most risqué..?), and to be honest, has to be seen to be believed...
Now as I said before, the experience of seeing Rocky Horror is unlike seeing anything else! And this isn't even counting the fancy dress (count the cos-players is a great game to play by the way!). It is more like being at a rock concert or a comedy gig rather than the average trip to the theatre, and that's because the audience is like nothing else! The roar when the curtain goes up is insane, and the heckles are insane! Yes you read that right, during the Narrator's speeches (played in this production by Charlie Condou), people were heckling! In fact, at one point, Charlie forgot his lines! But it didn't really matter as the heckles really were hilarious, and I also have to commend the rest of the company, because while Charlie had penis jokes thrown at him, the company had to stand as still as expressionless statues....
I don't really know what else to say about Rocky Horror as it is what it is - it is the ULTIMATE guilty pleasure and it was wonderful to see it on stage for the first time in all it's insane glory; and also, I was so glad we were sitting on the back row, as we had nobody who we weren't blocking anyone's view for the Time Warp. In fact, the entire back row were dancing, as well as the theatre staff! It's something that everyone has to experience once! =D
Now as I said before, the experience of seeing Rocky Horror is unlike seeing anything else! And this isn't even counting the fancy dress (count the cos-players is a great game to play by the way!). It is more like being at a rock concert or a comedy gig rather than the average trip to the theatre, and that's because the audience is like nothing else! The roar when the curtain goes up is insane, and the heckles are insane! Yes you read that right, during the Narrator's speeches (played in this production by Charlie Condou), people were heckling! In fact, at one point, Charlie forgot his lines! But it didn't really matter as the heckles really were hilarious, and I also have to commend the rest of the company, because while Charlie had penis jokes thrown at him, the company had to stand as still as expressionless statues....I don't really know what else to say about Rocky Horror as it is what it is - it is the ULTIMATE guilty pleasure and it was wonderful to see it on stage for the first time in all it's insane glory; and also, I was so glad we were sitting on the back row, as we had nobody who we weren't blocking anyone's view for the Time Warp. In fact, the entire back row were dancing, as well as the theatre staff! It's something that everyone has to experience once! =D
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