The Rocky Horror Show, Edinburgh review: 'a little rushed and frazzled'
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The Rocky Horror Show, Playhouse, Edinburgh ★★★
There’s a touch of dark glitter around the top of Leith Walk this week; black sequinned hot pants passing in the night, the odd thigh-high black patent boot, gleaming leather corset and goth-style long black coat sprinkled with stardust.
Why? Because Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show is back in town, powering into its sixth decade, at the Playhouse this week, with a UK touring production that now features the altogether lovely Jason Donovan in the role of Frank N Furter, the sexually supercharged space-alien transvestite first played by Tim Curry in the show’s legendary 1973 production. And whatever we make of the show, the Rocky Horror audience can always be relied on to dress up for the occasion and join in the dialogue, yelling out their responses like raucous and delighted worshippers in the Rocky Horror temple of hard rock, high camp, and 50s sci-fi movie send-up.
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Hide AdIn truth, this current version of the Rocky Horror is an uneven affair, held together by musical director Josh Seed’s terrific five-piece onstage band, and by some superb song and dance work from the show’s 17-strong ensemble, but often looking a little rushed and frazzled at the edges, when it comes to the main elements of the plot.
Jason Donovan makes a glamorous and genial Frank N Furter, but plays the character’s terrifying lascivious energy for laughs, rather than real erotic shock; and most of the other actors - including Lauren Chia and Connor Carson as sweet young couple Janet and Brad, who find themselves stranded in Frank’s mysterious castle of delights, and Morgan Jackson as Frank’s young muscle-man plaything Rocky - seem to be plotting their own course through the mayhem of a wild night at Frank’s place, without much sense of direction.
Stand-up comic Nathan Caton, though, turns in an outstanding performance as the show’s narrator, full of filthy one-liners, rapid responses to the audience, and sheer stage presence; and with no shortage of raw talent on stage - and unfailing support from an audience out to party no matter what - the show rattles along to its dramatic and oddly poignant conclusion, and a rip-roaring song and dance curtain-call that has the whole audience on it feet.
Just how long the Rocky Horror phenomenon can continue to delight audiences - as times change, and the repressive 1950s morality it was made to satirise recedes into the past only to reappear in very different forms - is anyone’s guess. For now, though, it’s emphatically still on the road; and attracting unique levels of audience engagement and involvement, black glittery outfits and all.
Until 25 January
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