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With just a week to go until opening night, excitement is high among the cast and crew of Taieri Musical’s The Rocky Horror Show.
The all-new production of Richard O’Brien’s cult classic rock ’n’ roll musical, is designed and directed by Ben Thomas, with musical director Samuel Leaper, and choreographer Chadyne Geary.
The Rocky Horror Show will be staged at the Mayfair Theatre from next Thursday, October 29, to November 7.
The show features a top-notch local cast of principals, including Jack Archibald, Zara Anthony-Whigam, Greg Macleod, Charlotte McKay, Sophie Whibley, Ben Hayward, Chris Keogh, and Mason Bouzaid, with Callum Proctor as the Narrator.
The much-loved story centres on young couple Brad and Janet, who find themselves stranded and seek refuge at the mansion of Dr Frank-N-Furter. What follows is a night of chaos, outrageous encounters, and shocking revelations.
Creating the setting for the show is in the hands of a five-person set-building team, led by production manager Darrel Read and set-building expert Matthew Morgan.
The enthusiastic team has put in about a thousand hours of voluntary work across the past three months, preparing major set pieces and LED lighting features for the Mayfair stage.
Mr Read said the set builders were all skilled artisans, who had brought lots of ideas to the creative process — with spectacular results.
“Ben’s vision is to lean into the concepts of classic science fiction and B-horror movies of the 1930s to 1960s, so we have had some fun with that,” he said.
The team have built several major pieces of set, including a spooky skull-laden front door for Frank-N-Furter’s castle, a 1950s-themed lab, a creepy forest, and a freezer with sliding door.
Elements of the set have been variously hand-built, sourced from Reitveld’s salvage yard, and 3-D printed items.
“The team have made lots of dials that flash and spin, there will be smoke and LED lights — it’s going to be really cool,” Mr Read said.
Mr Morgan said, in addition to looking the part, the set elements had been made “actor proof” to ensure that no-one on stage is injured or rips their costume.
“A lot of the wardrobe is bespoke and made by the Taieri Musical wardrobe team, so we want to look after it.”
Mr Read said an important part of Taieri Musical’s ethos in staging shows was to use as much local talent as possible.
Taieri Musical was the first amateur society in New Zealand to stage The Rocky Horror Show, and a lot of other societies were watching to see how it went.
“So far, things are going well — tickets have been selling really well,” Mr Read said.
“It is such an iconic show, and one that is on a lot of people’s bucket lists to be part of.”
“It’s going to be great to see it all come together.”