Rocky Horror Show

Jan 21 2025 | By | Reply More

★★★★☆  Still Rocking

Playhouse: Mon 20 – Sat 25 Jan 2025
Review by Tom Ralphs

While the new US President was busy signing an order making it clear what he thinks about the trans community, a sweet transvestite transexual from Transylvania was taking a different approach as Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show returned to the Playhouse with its customary mix of swagger, glitz, innuendo and audience call backs.

A celebration of the weird and the wonderful, Rocky Horror still delights more than 50 years on from its first appearance.

Lauren Chia and Connor Carson. Pic: David Freeman.

The story remains the same as it ever was, as Brad and Janet find themselves lost in the middle of nowhere on a rainy night with a car that has just suffered a blow out. What at first appears to be a lucky break turns into something else entirely as the large castle-like house in the distance turns out to be the last place that anyone should go to call roadside assistance.

Beyond its doors, the servant Riff Raff and his sister Magenta are ready to welcome them to a world of sex and science that is literally from a different planet to the one Brad and Janet call home.

The world of the master of the house, the transexual Frank-n-Furter, is one that is part-burlesque, part-gothic horror and wholly hedonistic. Powered by Frank’s limitless libido and his followers’ disregard for anything that could be defined as moral or ethical, the castle is a place where the corruption and transformation of Brad and Janet is inevitable.

The only question is what they will be like by the time they leave. If they leave.

faded rock-star excess

Returning to the role he first performed 25 years ago, Jason Donovan brings faded rock-star excess to Frank. He plays him with the air of an enigmatic, lounge lizard, keeping it just the right side of the sexy/sordid divide to ensure he is charismatic rather than creepy.

Alongside Donovan, a strong supporting cast shows that director Christopher Luscombe and the rest of the creative team know that this is a show that runs on its own momentum. While it may be helped by a star turn, it would be harmed if it was reliant on it, and if that reliance came at the expense of the other characters.

Jason Donovan. Pic: David Freeman.

Job Greuter takes on the role of Riff Raff, that Kristian Lavercombe came to define over 2622 performances in Rocky Horror before finally leaving the show in April 2024. Equal parts servile and sinister, Greuter wisely chooses not to stray too far from Lavercombe’s template. He is an obsequious pleasure seeker who takes delight in the depraved activities he is helping to facilitate.

As the lost innocents, Connor Carson and Lauren Chia have the geekiness required to give their naivety a sweet nostalgic charm. Carson keeps his straight laced buttoned down persona in place as they are drawn further into Frank-n-Furter’s world, contrasting well with Chia’s sense of wonder and excitement at her discovery of what sex is and what it can do to you.

prototype Ken

Playing the dual roles of Frank’s first protégé Eddie and Dr Scott, Edward Bullingham would leave audiences unaware they were watching the same actor if they didn’t have a programme with his name in. As Eddie’s successor in Frank’s affections, Morgan Jackson’s Rocky could be a prototype Ken from the Barbie movie, making it an ideal depiction of the part as the embodiment of what Frank wants him to be.

Threading the story together, comedian Nathan Caton takes on the role of the narrator with the task of telling the story and also responding to the traditional heckles and insults hurled at him by sections of the audience.

Morgan Jackson, Job Greuter, Jason Donovan, Natasha Hoeberigs, Jayme-Lee Zanoncelli and Connor Carson. Pic: David Freeman.

On Monday night, an opening reference to musical guests at Donald Trump’s inauguration was as hilarious as it was inevitable, and he was always ready with a retort or a response to whatever was thrown at him. However, these often sounded too well-honed, the product of a stand-up comedian with a long history of working in comedy clubs and wanting to get on with the routine rather than topical digressions that took flight.

The success of the show, of course, is as much about the delivery of the songs than it is the quality of the dialogue in a script that never attempts to mine the depths of profundity. The cast fully inhabit the songs, making them an extension of their characters. There is a relish in the delivery of each of them and a sense that everyone is loving the chance to weave themselves into the show’s history rather than being daunted by it.

As the curtain comes down with a reprise of The Time Warp and Sweet Transvestite, it feels certain that the Rocky Horror Show will continue to run and run – while the promise of its trashy glory will keep audiences shivering with antici…. pation.

Running time: Two hours (including one interval)
Edinburgh Playhouse, 18 – 22 Greenside Place, EH1 3AA. Phone booking: 0844 871 3014.
Mon 20 – Sat 25 January 2025
Mon – Thu: 8pm; Fri/Sat: 5.30pm & 8.30pm.
Tickets and details: Book here.

Tour continues. Full details: https://rockyhorror.co.uk

The January 2025 cast of the Rocky Horror Show. Pic: David Freeman.

ENDS

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