Anna Burnside reviews the cultural behemoth’s most recent Scottish stop.
Outside the theatre, a stretch taxi disgorged six women, well into middle age and the third bottle of prosecco. Each one was in a scarlet wig, sequinned tailcoat and top hat in homage to the character Columbia.
A show where the audience makes as much effort as the audience is a strange beast. The costumes are so well known that versions are available on Amazon (and, for the Frank N Furter fans, Ann Summers). The outstanding song, ‘The Time Warp,’ has a life way beyond the show that spawned it.
This is a dilemma for the cast and director. How do they, wearing instantly recognisable outfits, singing such familiar numbers, make the production their own?
The Rocky Horror Show does allow the Narrator some wriggle room, and comedian Nathan Caton added some Easterhouse and Buckfast into his flirty catch ups.
But the real engine of the show, Frank, needs charisma that reaches to the upper circle and sex appeal that makes a plot as scanty as his lingerie in some way believable.
In the absence of Jason Donovan, the promised star, veteran Frank Stephen Webb stood in. He has been batting his giant eyelashes in the role for several years and is a fan favourite, but his pantomime take on deviance did not convince.
When his velvet cloak was removed to reveal the corset and stockings beneath, he was less a transgressive sex scientist and more of a bricklayer in a glam rock band tightly laced into his girlfriend’s pass-ons.
Fortunately for everyone involved, Rocky Horror is enough of a phenomenon for this not to matter. Too much.
The Rocky Horror Show is at the Pavilion in Glasgow until November 2, 2024. It continues its UK tour into 2025, including a stop at the Edinburgh Playhouse (Jan 20-25, 2025). For further details, go to the production’s website.
Photo by David Freeman.
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