Kate Monahan feature: Backstage: in anticipation

Source: Waikato Times print edition

7 October 2005

KATE MONAHAN peeks behind the curtains in the lead up to The Rocky Horror Show's opening night. She talks to the cast and crew about the set, costumes and vision for the flamboyant musical about a transvestite scientist and an innocent couple who have lost their way.

The theatre is dark and magic is in the air. On either side of the wooden stage, naked golden figurines hang, their nipples glowing red.

A single character walks from stage right and stops dead centre, facing out, in the spotlight.

Most of the theatre is empty. A half dozen members of the production crew hover over the lighting and sound desks midway back, watching with anticipation. Tuesday night rehearsals for The Rocky Horror Show are about to begin, just four days before opening night.

Among the aisles of Founders Theatre, eight shadowy Transylvanians sway like zombies, as Sam Ware, who plays the Usherette, sings the opening notes of Science Fiction Double Feature Picture Show.

Director David Sidwell leans forward, his glasses catching the light of buttons and switches. He glances left and right around the theatre, eyeing up the nuances of lighting and the positions of the characters emerging from the shadows. Something is not quite right. Sidwell moves among them as they sing, adjusting their positions until the composition is balanced, like a puppet-master placing marionettes.

In the week before Hamilton Operatic Society's three-week season begins, it is all about tweaking the performances and ironing out any problems. They have just spent 30 minutes on Act Two "fix ups," and together with choreographer Nerida Lister (of Dancing with the Stars), Sidwell has been revising the movements and steps.

Roy Snow, playing Dr Frank'n Furter, the mad transvestite scientist at the heart of the show, bounds gamely down the steep spiral staircase in eight-inch silver heels.

"I was up all night making a necklace for Frank, for his big floorshow appearance," says Lesley Burkes-Harding, the show's costume director. She has scoured $2 shops and antique stores for jewels, ostrich plumes, calico and silk velvet for costumes for the 17 cast members, some of whom have up to four costumes each.

The look is David Bowie glam rock, she says. It's lots of fishnets, jewels and drag-queen boots. "It's been hard finding some of the bigger shoe sizes for the guys," she says. "I've had to import many pairs from the States or had them specially made." But in the high-octane, dancing, prancing, leaping show, the high heels are not faring well. Frank's shoes have undergone a few repairs, and Transylvanian David Artis comes over to to find out where he can get sturdy replacements after his heels break; Burkes-Harding sends him off to The Warehouse.

The Rocky Horror Show follows a newly engaged couple, Brad and Janet, who stumble on a secluded castle one wet night after their car breaks down. Welcomed in by other-worldly servant Riff Raff, they soon realise that the master of the house (Frank'n Furter) is up to no good (including murder, debauchery and creating the "perfect male specimen" in his lab).

An erotic send up of B-grade movies, The Rocky Horror Show was written by former Hamilton resident Richard O'Brien and premiered at London's Theatre Upstairs in 1973. It was made into the film The Rocky Horror Picture Show two years later, directed by Jim Sharman, starring Tim Curry (Frank'n Furter) and Susan Sarandon (Janet) and O'Brien as Riff Raff.

O'Brien, who lives in the UK, has been in Hamilton during final rehearsals for this 30th anniversary production.

"Richard O'Brien says it is a fairytale about the loss of innocence," the Hamilton show's executive producer Paul Mitchell says, as he walks around the revolving gothic tower that dominates the set. "They discover each other and themselves through each other."

Set designer John Harding, who most recently has worked for Weta Workshop on The Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong, has been inspired by stories old and new. "This is a real doozy. It really captures the imagination on many levels. Frank is the serpent in the Garden of Eden and Brad and Janet are Adam and Eve. It is an ingeniously written piece, a jigsaw puzzle, a beautiful picture of tensions."

To reflect "the dark and light of humanity" in the story, Harding has designed a circular set with a core that revolves. "It takes four people to get it moving." The core holds Rocky's 2m-long "birthing" tank and several characters, and an hydraulic lift.

Harding's set design was inspired by a hotchpotch of dark ghoulish things, from Hitchcock's Psycho (seen in the tiles on the tower and scenes of spurting blood) to old Hammer horrors, like The Revenge of Frankenstein. On Tuesday evening, he's creating a cardboard castle that will fly up with sparks to the moon in the final scene.

Like his wife, the production's costume director, Harding also was a bit of a magpie in procuring items for the sets.

"I got some of these dials from a junk yard in Te Rapa," he says, walking around the base of the stairwell, which circles the tower. "The power board in Wellington found me switches. I've got some things from a dairy farm, parts off a tractor, an old wool spinner, pipes. Lots of bits and pieces."

He pats it proudly. It is simple and efficient set piece, and it works well. The cast have become used to standing on the top stairs in their heels, "and turning on a space the size of a postage stamp, all the while not looking down and smiling out at the audience". They call the tower "the wedding cake" because of the layered circular shape and the scene where Frank thinks he has finally created his perfect man, and stands atop the tower with Rocky in a faux wedding homage.

There is much to admire, too, among the cast, says producer Mitchell: "Our cast of men and women are stunning."

They are tall and fit. Snow (Frank'n Furter) towers without heels at 1.86cm, and Mike Edward (Rocky) used to do decathalons. "Frank is gorgeous," Mitchell says. "But wait to you see Rocky, he is chiselled."

Casting the lead role was tricky. "The first challenge was finding a Frank'n Furter," says director Sidwell, who had the rest of the cast sorted by early March, but didn't decide on his flamboyant leading man until July, after looking at almost a dozen serious candidates. "I remember Richard (O'Brien) saying Frank'n Furter has to be a person who the husband and wife in the audience both lust after. You can't cast a queen in this role, and Roy is very much a man's man. He has a beautiful voice - when he does the ballads it's quite special."

Sidwell's relationship with O'Brien has been important. "Talking to him over the phone has been great. I was able to speak to him about many things and ask questions," Sidwell says. "The Hamilton Operatic has been trying to get Rocky for a long time. It is because of the Riff Raff statue (in Victoria St, and unveiled last year) and Richard's link to Hamilton that we were successful."

On Tuesday night, the director is enjoying a rest before the production crew feast on Chinese takeaways and head back for a full run through of the show. He has been through this many a time in his 35 years in music and theatre, having directed countless productions, including The Sound of Music, Grease and most recently, The Full Monty.

"I've done lots of biggies, but there is something about this show. I remember as a third former, in 1973, being introduced to it, and I've loved it ever since."

He is interested to see the appeal of the cult show to New Zealanders, especially during the two audience participation nights (Tuesday Oct 11 and Saturday Oct 22), when people are encouraged to come as their favourite Rocky Horror character.

"We did it for the first time with The Sound of Music; 1200 people dressed as nuns, holding brown paper packages or dressed in lederhosen, all singing along to Climb Every Mountain. What an experience!"

For diehard Rocky fans, there are certain props to take along, and certain things to yell out during the performance. "Newspapers on the head for the rain scene. Throw rice during the wedding scene. Squirt water pistols for rain," Sidwell says.

It's Wednesday night, a full dress rehearsal with costumes and makeup. Lesley Burkes-Harding and the ladies from the costume department are testing Snow's dressing change. He has less than two minutes to change from one fabulous outfit into another. They are struggling with the corset, the beading is getting in the way, and other actors and crew rushing in and out aren't helping.

"I'm running late," says Ginette McDonald, who is the Narrator, pushing past and flying up to the changing rooms for makeup. Tim Pollock, a Transylvanian, elegantly made up in silver and lilac, walks by to report he has lost weight since the original fitting and his suspenders are falling down.

Mike Edward, who plays Rocky, Frank's perfect male creation, scoots by in a white towelling robe. He doesn't wear much in the show, just silver undies. He's been working out in preparation for the role, and has made his high-testosterone Rocky into a super-hero who does back flips. His dance moves are physical comedy at it's best.

"The show is a massive roller coaster party," he says. "The audience comes knowing what's going on and there is a lot more interaction and give and take. I don't think the production will let them down."

The Rocky Horror Show runs Oct 8-29 (not Sundays or Mondays) at Founders Theatre. See www.rockyhorror.com/participation/proplist.php for prop list.