Time Warp strikes at midnight - The Press

HAPPY HORRORS: George Henare, aka Frank 'N furter, and the cast of the Rocky Horror Show get in the mood for the opening night of the Court Theatre. (DAVID ALEXANDER/The Press)

Source: The Press online

26 November 2004

They're doing the Time Warp in Christchurch and in Hamilton.

Christchurch's Court Theatre opens its Christmas season of The Rocky Horror Show starring George Henare tomorrow night.

Up north in the hometown of the show's creator, Richard O'Brien, Hamilton is preparing to unveil a statue tonight of Riff Raff – the show's butler character – in honour of O'Brien, a former Hamilton resident.

O'Brien will lead the Time Warp dance up Victoria Street to the site of the old Embassy Theatre, where the statue will be sited. It will be unveiled at the stroke of midnight.

For years after her husband's death, Dame Thea Muldoon kept the purple velvet jacket Sir Robert Muldoon wore when he narrated The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

"I kept that jacket for such a long time," she said yesterday.

Sir Robert, then a former prime minister and in the twilight of his political career, had revelled in his role in the 1986 stage production, she said.

"He enjoyed doing that very much. It was nice to go and do something that was fun – something that was different, not serious. A lot of people just fade from sight. Other people keep doing things. He kept doing things," she said.

She said she thoroughly enjoyed seeing the show.

"You have got to have fun in life. Life gets so serious."

She eventually donated the jacket to an acting group to ensure it would get some use.