“THERE is no such thing as a bad audience, only bad performances” is an opinion that is often expressed, but I tend to dispute the claim, writing as someone who was a cast member of a farce which, after having the audience in fits of laughter night after night, ran up against an audience that absorbed the comedy like a wet sponge, hardly raising a titter.

While the first night audience at Bath’s Theatre Royal were not that bad they did not respond nearly as strongly as they could to this cult classic spoof of those wonderfully bad horror movies of the immediate pre and post Second World War period.

The first time I saw this show the audience was filled with people, including many rugby-playing beer-drinkers, dressed for the occasion in fishnet tights, suspender belts, high heels, colourful corsets and outrageous wigs. There were alas all too few to be seen in the Theatre Royal on opening night. And there were even fewer who were prepared to assist Nathan Caton by heckling his narration of this story of naive young lovers, Janet and Brad (Lauren Chia and Alex Hetherington), who find themselves trapped in the weird castle of transvestite Frank’N’Furter, played by Jason Donavan.

Of course with a cast headed by the multi-talented Australian star, there were plenty of fun moments, especially when he set about seducing Janet and Brad. And with MD Josh Sood and a boisterous quartet of musicians reminding us just how good Richard O’Brien’s score is – he also wrote the lyrics and book – the musical side of the show went with a real swing. This was assisted no end by four high-powered singing dancers as Frank’N’Furter’s Phantoms.

Frank’s trio of henchmen, Rif Raff, played by Job Greuter, Magenta, played by Natasha Hoeberigs, who made her mark early in the show introducing the tale as a beehived-hair drive-in-movie usherette, and Jayme-Lee Zanoncelli, in great form, dramatically and vocally as the love-sick Columbia, pulled out all the stops to keep this delicious spoof from taking itself too seriously, which, because of the low-key audience response, it was threatening to do.

There was no shortage of drive from Edward Bullingham, who doubled as Frank’N’Furter’s first out-of-control Monster Eddie, and the vampire-chasing, wheel-chaired Dr Scott, and the second nubile, acrobatic Monster Rocky, played by Morgan Jackson.

Between now and May 2026 this production has 32 more venues to visit including Bournemouth Pavilion on 3rd to 8th February 2025, Cheltenham Everyman Theatre 17th to 22nd February, Princess Theatre Torquay, 16th to 21st June and Hall for Cornwall, 23rd to 28th June. It’s to be hoped that they will find on their travels much more sympathetic and supportive audiences (starting later this week in Bath) than they did on opening night.

GRP

Photographs by David Freeman

 

Note from GP-W – The first time I saw the Rocky Horror Show was at the converted Chelsea Cinema in 1973, where Tim Curry created the role of Frank and Richard O’Brien was playing Riff Raff – that really is how old I am.  It was long, long before the audience had got into the habit (sic) of wearing fishnets and suspenders or heckling the narrator. I’ve always thought the new norm rather detracted from the original – that really is how old I am.