Welcome to the science fiction double bill picture show, a B-movie tribute tale of a sweet transvestite from Transexual, Transylvania, a newly engaged couple whose car has broken down, leading to an evening full of all kinds of experimentation.
Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show musical started life back in 1973 in a 63-seat upstairs theatre at the Royal Court. The stage show predates the well-known film adaptation by two years. (The movie celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, and the recent DocsIreland festival screened one of two new documentaries exploring the cult celluloid picture.)
Only Six The Musical tours more frequently through the Grand Opera House. This year’s cast is nearly fully refreshed. Previous reviews will give you an idea of the production’s bells and whistles.
So what’s changed for this tour which is coincidentally resident in Belfast during Pride week?
Nathan Caton strides on stage with a supremely confident performance as the Narrator. He has an answer – or two! – for every audience call-back (heckle), delightfully extending his character’s time on stage. The ad libs are topical, with Greg Wallace quickly worked in, and a mention later on for Coldplay. (Though ‘Larne’ might work better than ‘Newry’ for the mention of a local placename.)
It’s almost immersive theatre, with a few of the opening night audience going to great efforts to dress up for the occasion, though no one could quite top the lad wearing tight gold lamé shorts and topless except for his angel wings from 2023. The most invested fans will even stand to do The Time Warp in the first act. (Everyone shuffles to their feet for the reprise during the finale.)
Morgan Jackson’s Rocky is particularly toned and acrobatic, flexing his muscles and almost effortlessly flipping across the stage. Janet (Lauren Chia) and Brad (understudy Ryan Carter-Wilson) make a very cute couple who will soon lose their innocence and their minds. Adam Strong’s Frank N Furter is undeniably evil but is laced with a lot of comedy. The extra levity makes the post-interval bed scene – where the audience willingly laugh along with the actions of a double rapist – a bit less troublesome than some previous productions. Strong’s rendition of
I’m Going Home got a big audience reaction.
The production’s technical side has laser sharp lighting effects, pithy sound effects, and an amazing volume of smoke injected onto the stage ahead of Superheroes. On opening night, the volume levels varied a bit too much across the main cast members, sometimes competing with the five-piece live band. That will likely be fixed before the next performance.
The Rocky Horror Show is smutty, vulgar, quite juvenile and at times tasteless … and very funny if and only you remember that it is introduced as a homage to the horror/science fiction genre. The week-long run at the Grand Opera House finishes on Saturday 26 July. You’d be lucky to find two seats together. Next week, it’s off to Norwich, then Nottingham, and back across the water to Dublin (11-16 August), Derry (18-23 August) and Cork (25-30 August).
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