THEATRE REVIEW: The Rocky Horror Show - The Curve Theatre, Leicester.

It's astounding. Time isn't fleeting. Madness took control.

Yes, the perennial cult classic is back - again! This time with a rather surprise casting of Ore Oduba as Brad. I have to admit to being a little sceptical about this casting at first, but he absolutely won me over within the first few bars! What a delightful performer he is. And he worked superbly alongside Haley Flaherty's more conventional interpretation of Janet.

Yes, many of this evening's audience had come along in costume (as is now the custom), and were free with their acknowledged and "official" responses, as well as some more fruity heckling too. Our narrator for the show, the absolutely delightful Philip Franks, was well prepared and had routines and put-downs a-plenty when the heckling started. He was amazing, bringing a very fresh and rather risque characterisation to what can sometimes be a very staid and uninspiring role. 

Stephen Webb was a little more camp in his interpretation than I have previously seen, making him more overt and sarcastic, this however worked for him and the production as a whole, and his characterisation was thorough and flawless. Kristian Lavercombe brought out the oddities in Riff-Raff nicely, but we never were given the hint that he was a dissatisfied servant, and so his transformation at the end came as too much of a shock (if there were indeed any in the audience who didn't know the story that is...!) Whilst Lauren Ingram was a delightful Columbia, with an extended ad-lib sequence which gained her an extra applause, and Suzie McAdam was simply the best Usherette / Magenta combo I have I ever seen. Simply amazing.  

The set was, as far as I can remember, identical to the last two or three times I have seen this show, which is a shame. Some things don't really work for me. The scene-setting scene of Brad and Janet in the car and the church to the side for example, doesn't work at all sadly, since they are supposed to be in the middle of nowhere, so why is there a church on stage? 

Lighting and effects were all good. The band (up on the rostra at the rear of the stage) were also sounding excellent - shame that the sound levels were just a tad too high, and could easily have been turned down several decibels for maximum comfort and enjoyment.

The choreography (Nathan M Wright) was in keeping with the show, with many of the more famous and 'classic' songs kept very much as they always are, but with a few interesting twists. The same must also be said of the directing (Christopher Luscombe), who obviously had to stick as close to the original as possible in order not to disappoint a huge and loyal fan-base of the show, but had also put his own stamp on it too, which was interesting and clever. 

So, head on down to Leicester Curve Theatre - it's just a jump to the left and a step to the right for a guaranteed great night out!

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 10.1.22