Review by Elis Doyle

 

The Rocky Horror Show, a musical performance which explores the peculiar and outrageous, with a dash of B-Movie Horror and Sci-fi thrown into the melting pot, is quite the spectacle to behold. In the show, newly-weds Janet and Brad are stranded in the middle of nowhere, and are forced to take refuge in a nearby castle owned by a certain Sweet Transvestite, whereupon they are subjected to a night of insanity and self-discovery.

For a production that has been running for more than forty years, the humour and tone still resonates tremendously. Liam Tamne does an excellent job with capturing the gravitas of Frank-N-Furter, wildly flailing his limbs with grace on stage, it doesn’t seem like a possible feat until you witness it for yourself. However, his singing voice at times doesn’t quite emulate the raw power of Curry’s original performance. Diana Vickers performance as Janet was fairly acceptable early on in the show, until later in the song ‘Creature of the Night’ where she truly came into her own, perfectly encapsulating the theme of becoming who you truly are. The comedic-timing at all times is top notch, you’ll find yourself busting a gut at Ben Freeman’s performance as Brad, who maintains his timid and quiet composure throughout this outlandish nightmare, a highlight being his ‘intimate’ scene with Frank-N-Furter himself.

 

The performance by the band, with musical direction from Ben Van Tienen is utterly flawless, the sound mixing perfectly with the events transpiring on stage makes it one of the strongest elements of the play. It must also be noted that the set itself and dancing choreography mesh incredibly well, with each transition from one area to the next feeling immediate and seamless.

In short, The Rocky Horror Show, is one which commands such passion from its following. To accommodate this, it truly involves the audience, to the point where you can effectively imagine them being one of the characters. The cast exchange bouts of hilarious dialogue between themselves and the audience with amazing fluidity, a skill not to be underestimated. A marvellous production, which is highly deserving of its continued success decades on.