A scene from The Rocky Horror Show at the Theatre Royal, Brighton and Touring. Picture: David Freeman
The Rocky Horror Show continues at the Theatre Royal, Brighton until 2 January 2016 and then tours up to 13 August 2016.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Anyone who has never seen Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show might wonder if the audience is part of the show. Why are so many men dressed in fishnet tights and wearing lace basques and stilettos? What are girls doing dressed as cinema usherettes from the 1950s?
It quickly becomes clear that The Rocky Horror Show is a club whose aficionados not only know the plot, the characters and the songs, but much of the dialogue. Stage business is familiar and departures from particular routines are loudly heckled – the fourth wall is constantly under threat and occasionally broken. Narrator Steve Punt has a louder microphone: he knows how to deal with particular miscreants and jokingly keeps order in perfect Oxford English.
The cult comedy classic is a pot pourri of pantomime, drag act, spoof horror and rock musical. It pokes fun at the Frankenstein legend in particular, a torch picked up by Mel Brooks with Young Frankenstein one year later in 1974. Since then, we’ve had The Addams Family, Austin Powers and Scary Movie: we are accustomed to parodies and witty send-ups. But although a touch dated (despite topical Trump reference), The Rocky Horror Show has an unstoppable momentum, supported by past fame and current fans.
Here Liam Tamne steps into the role of Frank N Furter. He struts and preens in tights and laces, athletically outrageous and vocally impressive. Kristian Lavercombe obliterates all earlier Riff Raffs. He’s played the role nearly a thousand times and his devotion to the character pays off in comic subtlety and nuance. His weird family include Sophie Linder-Lee as Columbia whose wacky dancing as she is sprayed with stardust very nearly steals the show.
Poor Ben Freeman as Brad in Buddy Holly glasses has to be a complete moron but he does it with great charm. Diana Vickers has more fun with Janet and they make the perfect idiotic couple for an evening out they’ll never forget. A neat reference to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre reminds the audience of the perils of breaking down in isolated country where strange people loom out of derelict buildings.
Dominic Andersen is Rocky, scantily clad and showily muscled, but touchingly sympathetic.
Director Christopher Luscombe and set designer Hugh Durrant are responsible for a fast, slick production with every possible visual cliche for a sci-fi spoof. Ensembles are brilliantly snappy and perfectly synchronised: cast members’ choreographic response to each other at the beginning of Act II is just hilarious.
It is all loud, bright and flashy, sometimes too loud to easily hear the lyrics of the songs, but obviously most of the audience know them already .
Devotees went away deliriously happy. The rest of us needed time to recover.
Louise Schweitzer
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