“A camp and scandalous romp”
Just before the curtain rose on The Rocky Horror Show in the Liverpool Playhouse, I was aware that this would likely be no ordinary theatre-going experience, having seen at least three Dr Frank-N-Furters earlier that night in the theatre bar. As the band struck up and Natasha Hoeberigs’ marionette-like Usherette began to sing the opening number, ‘Science Fiction/Double Feature’, the enthusiastic harmonies from the versions of Columbia and Janet sitting in the row behind me confirmed my suspicions.
This show was a laugh from beginning to end – the cast’s brilliantly overwrought and cheesy acting accompanied their crystal-clear high notes and rambunctious dance numbers. Of a relatively small company, standout roles were the innocently mislead Brad and Janet, played by Connor Carson and Lauren Chia, and the unhinged servants Riff Raff and Magenta, played by Job Greuter and Natasha Hoeberigs, the latter’s raucous performance very different to her brief stint as Usherette. Morgan Jackson showcased a guileless Rocky who was rather like a muscular backflipping puppy, and soap favourite Jason Donovan brought a sort of jaded, erstwhile-rockstar feel to Dr Frank-N-Furter: while his vocal control was excellent both in song and in speech (he made full use of every octave available to him), his loping physicality and deadpan expressions read as a little lacklustre against the chaotic energy of his servants and ghouls, whose chemistry was such that they frequently seemed to move, speak, and breathe as one (this said, Tim Curry’s iteration of Frank is of course an extremely tough act to follow).
Radio presenter Pete Price’s Narrator worked very well for the crowd interaction elements of the show, and while he assured us we weren’t at a pantomime, it often felt like we were: some of the best humour of the night came of off the cuff heckles from the crowd, several cast members corpsed, and not one song went unaccompanied by the audience. All of this made for a delightfully relaxed and silly atmosphere, as compounded by the cartoonish set and over the top lighting set up, which involved spotlights and dry ice galore. This silliness helped to soften the show’s more salacious elements – while these were never too overt to begin with, I’d still suggest that this is not a musical for the prudish.
A camp and scandalous romp, The Rocky Horror Show comes highly recommended for a festive night out, and runs at the Liverpool Playhouse until January 4th.