Tacky, tasteless but always tremendously entertaining, Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show roars back to the New Theatre this week to the delight of its legion of fans.
As ever, basques and fishnet tights were out in force on the first night as the devotees dolled themselves up as the characters from the show. There was even one brave chap defying the evening chill in nothing but the skimpy swimming trunks favoured by Rocky. He, of course, is the muscly hunk (Dominic Tribuzio) created in the laboratory of the lecherous transsexual Frank ‘N’ Furter, entirely with the gratification of his own libido in mind.
But the sexually omnivorous alien, gleefully presented by David Bedella (pictured above), doesn’t restrict himself to this latest squeeze. He soon manages to have his way both with the innocent — as she is to begin with — Janet Weiss (Haley Flaherty) and her he-man fiancé Brad Majors (Richard Meek).
The scenes of seduction are graphically depicted under director Christopher Luscombe. I had forgotten how ‘in yer face’ the sex is here. Not perhaps for maiden aunts, then, even though they might like some of the songs, which are also much better than I remember and expertly interpreted by the onstage band under Steve Hill.
Entirely in keeping with the high camp tone of the evening, Christopher Biggins gives a star turn as the Narrator, unfazed by even the smuttiest contributions from the audience, most of whom naturally know every word of the script. It’s a hoot.
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