Rocky Horror Show

Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton

Men in tight basques, full make-up and stilettos mince around vampish women clad in PVC – and that’s just the audience.

Fetishly good fun and not for the faint-hearted, The Rocky Horror Show takes fans on a risqué riot of evil alien transvestites, sexual liberation and perverse physicalities. And what a ride it is.

Steaming into the Grand the last night, TV chef Ainsley Harriott was a natural as the narrator, camping up the comedy with a twinkle in his eye and his tongue firmly in his cheek – and boy does he do a mean Time Warp.

Richard Meek as Brad and Haley Flaherty as Janet, the naive visitors to Frank ‘N’ Furter’s castle of corruption, were the perfect partnership, selling their characters’ awakening from innocence with lusty conviction.

David Bedella as the deviant Mr Furter himself combines both creepy and charismatic as he sashays around in fishnets and suspenders while titillating his way through the overtly raunchy scenes.

With his commanding bass voice and lasciviously wicked smirk, his outrageous antics had the crowd shrieking with delight.

As any fan of this cult Richard O’Brien classic knows, much of the fun is the audience participation, and members of last night’s crowd certainly weren’t shy.

The heckling was near-the-knuckle and probably a bit of a shock for Rocky ‘virgins’ including a couple in the dress circle who walked out in the first half. But the gleeful energy of people letting their hair down and openly having a giggle was infectious.

Prudes, the easily offended and those in search of a purposeful storyline, stay away, but men and women prepared to open their minds to decadent escapism and a really good laugh should hook up their corsets and head to the most bizarrely brilliant show in town. Runs until Saturday.

By Stella Stokes