‘The Rocky Horror Show’ has returned to Edinburgh, the cult musical features hits such as‘The Time Warp’ and ‘Sweet Transvestite’. The Edinburgh Playhouse is the final Scottish stop of the musical’s current UK tour, playing Scotland’s Broadway till 18th March 2023. The story follows young lovers, Brad and Janet. Their car breaks down outside a rather spooky looking castle where they come across a certain Dr Frank N Furter. From then on in they find themselves in one hell of a strange encounter.
Stephen Webb serves us an outrageous, sexy and energetic Dr. Frank N Furter. His portrayal is not a mimic of Tim Curry’s untouchable portrayal, Stephen instead gives us an Americanesque spin of Frank N Furter with a New Jersey accent. While at points the accent does become questionable, his energy is fantastic and vocals are outstanding. He has the audience in the palm of his hands as soon as he steps onstage to his show-stopping performance of ‘Sweet Transvestite’.
Hayley Flaherty returns to Rocky Horror to reprise her role as Janet. Hayley is undoubtedly the best Janet in the show’s history. Embracing the humour, dizziness and raunchy antics of Janet’s journey. Hayley also absolutely nails the musical numbers in this show with her sublime vocals, especially in ‘Touch-A-Touch-A-Touch Me’. Richard Meek as Brad supplies the audience charm and great vocals. Richard also joins in with the fun of this production ensuring that the role doesn’t fall flat by not engaging with the immersive nature of this musical. Both of these performers truly bring strong portrayals of Brad and Janet to this production.
Philip Franks does not miss a beat and no screaming audience member is too much for him as the narrator. His comic timing and delivery is simply staggering, no heckle from the audience flounders him, it instead encourages him to produce richer, filthier and close to the bone comedy. Philip’s narrator is a highlight of this musical, with his seamlessly funny audience interaction.
Darcy Finden does not drop stamina once during her performance as Columbia. Her dedication to delivering the choreography with such drive and pushing her strong vocals is admirable. Darcy’s cookie portrayal lifts this character and makes Columbia even more of an audience favourite.
Joe Allen gives us rock n roll vocals as Eddie and hilarious antics as Dr. Scott, both characters are only featured in small doses and yet their impact makes great comedy, plus the rock-n-roll number ‘Hot Patootie’ is a fan favourite.
Ben Westhead as Rocky supplies the audience an eye popping six pack, devilish charm, superb body flexibility and fantastic vocals. This character could easily be one note, unenergized and disengaging for the audience however Ben manages to deliver a very entertaining version of rocky.
Suzie McAdam as Usherette and Magenta supplies two completely different portrayals so convincingly. As Usherette, Suzie supplies stunning vocals in ‘Science Fiction Double Feature’. And when Suzie transforms into Magenta she is unrecognizable, unless you had a programme you wouldn’t know that it was the same actress who opened as the Usherette. Her dark and devilish portrayal of Magenta is very enjoyable to watch, especially with richer vocals than previously seen with the Usherette.
Kristian Lavercombe is back as Riff Raff, at this point there is no doubt Kristian supplies the best portrayal of this character. He was simply born to play the hunchbacked rock n roll servant. Kristian has been playing this role for years, and quite rightfully so, he embodies Riff Raff perfectly and nails the character’s complexity. Also his vocals in ‘Time Warp’ lift the song, Kristian also throws a ton of raunchy quirks into the performance with his very specific accent and complicated riffs. Kristian’s portrayal of Riff Raff is a performance that every Rocky Horror fan has to see.
Finally we have our phantoms who act as an ensemble, they lift the performance with great energy in the choreography and powerful back-in vocals for some of the musical numbers. The phantoms are as follows; Reece Budin, Fionán O’Carroll, Jessica Sole, Stefania Du Toit (Dance Captain), Tyla Dee Nurden (Swing) and Nathan Shaw (Swing).
Christopher Luscombe has been directing Rocky Horror since 2006. His UK touring production has captured the hearts of thousands, if not millions of people who are obsessed with this cult musical. It is clear that within the last seventeen years there has been very little need for change of direction as the text speaks for itself and Christopher’s direction is one which could be argued as clearer, plus more sound than that of Jim Sharman’s in the original 1975 film. Christopher’s main success here is letting the audience have much interaction as possible, this is clearly a musical for the fans and is probably one of the most accessible on tour currently in the UK. This musical was of course written by the legendary Richard O’Brien. His outlandish scope on gender norms and taboo subjects of the 1970s you think would be looking pretty tired by 2023, but it’s quite the opposite. This musical’s themes and issues still stand as relevant in the 21st century and are eaten up by the packed theatres. This story no doubt has iconic status, but that does not mean that we can forgive the notorious, divisive rushed and rather anticlimactic ending. However, with Christopher’s direction, this ending seems tidier and less unfulfilling, which lets the audience feel more at ease that their great evening isn’t going to be spoiled. Nathan M. Wright’s high energy and enjoyable Choreography slips well into scenes, fits very well with the musical numbers and does not take away from Christopher’s direction.
Sue Blane’s costume (as little as there is of it) is stunning, the corsets, heels, thongs, space outfits and all the outrageous costumes that come with this musical are designed and clearly made to a high standard. The costume also goes well with Hugh Durrant’s set design, with gothic hints and contemporary styles this design works for this musical. As cheap as some of the set looks it’s supposed to look that way, as many people describe Rocky Horror as the Halloween pantomime, we definitely get that vibe in the set. The film reel which runs underneith the proscenium arch is very apt for this musical which has been dipped in cinematic history. Nick Richings’ lighting design is tremendous, the vast amount of lights on the stage alone is enough to dazzle the audience, how affective and efficiently they are used for each scene just simply blows their mind.
‘The Rocky Horror Show’ is one of the best musical productions to tour the UK, Christopher Luscombe’s direction with a hilarious and talented cast cook up the perfect recipe for a raucous, sexy and colourful musical.
Click below to get tickets:
https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/the-rocky-horror-show/edinburgh-playhouse/
Theatre Scotland 
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