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Press invite for review.

Not many shows can stand strong at the hands of time and with 50 years under its belt, Rocky Horror has built a strong following of dedicated audiences who fully invest in the show so much that they are an integral part of the show.

With hits like Sweet Transvestite, Dammit Janet and of course the pelvic thrusting Time Warp, Rocky Horror is a non stop outrageously naughty show.

I will start off by saying that the Rocky Horror Show is something incredibly unique. You have to be doing something incredibly right to be able to have such a dedicated audience and keen following even half a century later.

What is so incredibly remarkable about the Rocky Horror Show is you truly invest in the atmosphere. It is wild, it is unpredictable and it is a damn right laugh. You truly do not know what wacky thing is gonna come out of an audience members mouth next. Any other show if somebody was shouting out you would be downright livid but instead the Rocky horror show it just is what it is.

The Rocky Horror Show makes no apologies for being who it is and for that I truly admire the show. The casting of the show was incredibly strong but Frank n Furter (Stephen Webb) and Brad (Richard Meek) absolutely stole it for me.

I wish I could say that I truly enjoyed the show but plot wise I found it rather weak. I can’t in all honestly say that I really connected with the story at all. I’m not really a sci-fi fan and other than the Time Warp I don’t really have much love for the soundtrack. That’s not to say that the cast did any injustice to these songs because in fact it was the complete opposite.

Prior to the show, I did listen on Spotify to give the Rocky horror show soundtrack another chance and I can I say it is not for me however hearing this casts live performances, I enjoyed it so much more than the soundtrack on Spotify… like a lot more. I ended up loving Science Fiction/Double Feature (reprise) and have had it whirring around in my head since!

I do think the main magic comes from the connection between the cast and the audience and without that audience participation I don’t know how much people would invest in the Rocky horror show. Maybe I am completely wrong here, but I did find that the most enjoyable part for me many others was the reactions from the cast when the audience would heckle.

Perhaps though this is why I disconnected to me with the show as you do you have the fourth wall broken down so much, there are moments too where you find it difficult to follow along with the storyline because you have got people jumping in – sometimes if you’re slightly too far away you can’t actually hear what that person said either so you don’t know where that fits into the story or why it’s funny.

The Rocky Horror Show is incredibly suggestive, provocative and the naughtiest show in town. It is definitely not suitable for children and neither is it suitable for people who are easily offended or made uncomfortable by suggestive sex scenes. The Rocky horror show to me feels more of an experience than a theatre show. As a theatre show I can’t say I particularly engaged with it but as an experience I had a right laugh and honestly I was just gobsmacked.

I loved getting dressed up, I love standing up to do the Time warp literally 15 minutes into a show I loved not knowing what was going to happen next and I loved seeing Joe McFadden‘s reactions to the audience. He had a brilliant opening night and I relished in his reactions and quick witted humour.

The Rocky Horror Show is outrageously funny. It brings the energy and it brings the heat. It is wild. It is unpredictable. It is a downright good time laced into a theatre show.

In a strange sort of way, the Rocky Horror Show reminded me of being on holiday. It felt like the kind of show you’d watch after a few drinks on a night out and stumble across a wacky but wild show in which you will never forget. And for me, I see so many theatre shows that some become forgettable. I forget what shows I’ve seen or who I’ve seen. But there is one thing for certain to say about the Rocky Horror Show, I will never ever forget it. And I think, that is how a show triumphs for 50 years.

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Royal Concert Hall

21-26 Aug 2023