Preview: A Virgin’s Guide To Rocky Horror, The Left Bank

FISHNETS, stilettos and lots of audience participation - that’s what is promised at The Left Bank, Guthrie Street, next week, when the venue celebrates Hallowe’en with a three-night run of A Virgins’ Guide To Rocky Horror.

It may now be just two years shy of its 40th birthday, but Richard O’Brien’s cult musical has long fascinated and repelled audiences in equal measure.

Charting the corruption of a young, all-American couple - Brad and Janet - by an alien from the far distant planet of Transexual in the galaxy of Transylvania, the show is a high camp mix of rock and roll and tongue in cheek parodies of 1950’s B movies.

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Of course, what makes it different to other musicals is that audiences are now as much a part of it as the actors on stage. They have responses to shout, dances to do and items to throw, whether it be rice during the wedding scene, playing cards or even toast! And this is where A Virgin’s Guide... comes in.

Written by Tim Leith, the Virgin’s Guide takes audiences through the history of the musical while explaining the audience participation along the way.

“We tell you what to do when,” explains producer Edward Cory.

“We teach you how to do the Time Warp, reveal the correct responses to call out when, and check of the list of items you need when attending the full show or the film.”

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Those items include everything from Kit Kat bars to newspapers and on occasion, water pistols.

“The other thing Rocky Horror audiences are famous for is dressing up and we encourage our audiences to do the same,” says Cory.

“Before the performance there will be an opportunity for those wishing to get changed to don their fishnets and basques in the White Room Bar, which will also host after-show drinks, at which fans can mingle with the cast.” Cory also appears as Scotty in the show and the company is completed by Arron Usher, Julie Heatherill, Matt Robertson, Ali Macdougall, Phillip Ryan, Lauren Heatherill and Gavin Scott, who reprises the role of Frankie.

A Virgin’s guide... features a specially arranged score by Erik Tricity of Edinburgh industrial techno outfit Metaltech.

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“We like to think that we provide a safe environment in which the audience can forget their inhibitions for an hour and a bit, let their hair down and enjoy themselves,” adds Cory.

What better way to celebrate Hallowe’en?

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