The Rocky Horror Show at Aylesbury Waterside Theatre

Richard O’Brien’s legendary rock ‘n’ roll musical, The Rocky Horror Show has come to Aylesbury as part of a new world tour. As the longest continuous run of a contemporary musical anywhere in the world, The Rocky Horror Show has been seen by 30 million people and is the biggest party around, featuring timeless classic songs, including Sweet Transvestite, Dammit Janet, and of course, the pelvic thrusting showstopping Time Warp.

It tells the story of two squeaky clean college kids – Brad and his fiancée Janet. When, by a twist of fate, their car breaks down outside a creepy mansion whilst on their way to visit their former college professor, they meet the charismatic Dr Frank-n-Furter. It is an adventure they’ll never forget, filled with fun, frolics, frocks, and frivolity.

The musical’s music, lyrics and book were written by Richard O’Brien as a humorous tribute to various B movies associated with the science fiction and horror genres from the 1930s to the early 1960s. The play was set against the backdrop of the glam era that had manifested itself throughout British popular culture in the early 1970s. The original London production of the musical was premiered at the Royal Court Theatre on 19^th June 1973 and in 1975, the musical was adapted into the film The Rocky Horror Picture Show, starring O’Brien as Riff Raff, with the actor Tim Curry also reprising his role as Dr Frank-n-Furter. The theatre production later moved to several other locations in London and closed on 13^th September 1980 in what was its 2960^th performance in London. It was a creative triumph and a critical and commercial success and from then on, the show became a cult classic, collecting countless awards and accolades and being loved by audiences in 20 countries and, to date, being translated into 30 languages.

Despite being an avid theatre goer, I am some what ashamed to say that, until last night, I was a Rocky Horror virgin and had never seen the film or the full stage production, despite my acute awareness of it’s existence. Having now seen this latest production, all I can say is I don’t know why I waited so long to pop my Picture Show cherry! The whole production was a mad, relentless, energy-saturated romp through the weird, wonderful and wacky world of Frank-n-Furter and his Phantoms. The design, costume and make-up were flamboyant, cheeky and glamorously over-the-top whilst the vocal and dance performances were second to none. I could barely stay in my seat as I was electrified by the passion, humour and spectacle of it all.

Although I was fully aware of the show’s cult status and the reputation it’s level of fandom holds, I was still  thrilled to see the level of fan commitment and audience participation that happened through the performance. Numerous fans came dressed as characters from the show, the commitment of some rivalling the showmanship of the cast themselves, whilst others contributed with call-back lines of innuendo through the show, and of course, everyone was on their feet for a good old Time Warp encore!

The Rocky Horror Show will continue to run at The Aylesbury Waterside Theatre until Saturday 30^th May before continuing to tour as follows:

All tickets can be purchased here: www.rockyhorror.co.uk/tour-dates