SignOnSanDiego.com: Hello and welcome to the feature that addresses that eternal question, "Why are you carrying a rubber glove around in a little bag? "Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show," the raucous, retro musical that just opened at the Old Globe Theatre, is known for its raciness, its sci-fi vibe and its infernally catchy dance number "The Time Warp." It's also known (as is the 1975 movie adaptation) for its high degree of audience interactivity. Put more simply: The show's fans like to yell and throw stuff.
Saturday, October 01, 2011
Props 'til you drop at 'Rocky Horror'
SignOnSanDiego.com: Hello and welcome to the feature that addresses that eternal question, "Why are you carrying a rubber glove around in a little bag? "Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show," the raucous, retro musical that just opened at the Old Globe Theatre, is known for its raciness, its sci-fi vibe and its infernally catchy dance number "The Time Warp." It's also known (as is the 1975 movie adaptation) for its high degree of audience interactivity. Put more simply: The show's fans like to yell and throw stuff.
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14 comments:
I find myself very skeptical about this "participation bag". I love some Rocky Horror but I simply can not imagine this type of participation in a theatre, as much as I would love to see them prove me wrong. Although the audience is not throwing things at the actors on stage, there is a strong part of me that feels that seeing a show is still an event to be respected and not treated like a circus. Then again, the other part of me tells me that for any other show this would be a catastrophe, but for Rocky fans, nothing is to be a surprise.
Is it an invitation to participate or is it garbage control? Uh, why not both?
I've only ever seen Rocky Horror as the film in front of which actors "perform" on a "stage" in front of the movie screen; I know an actual stage version exists but ... well, kinda who cares?
Here's an analogy: Bob Dylan wrote "All Along the Watchtower" but Jimmy Hendrix owns that song - forever. Richard O'Brien originally wrote "Rocky Horror" as a stage play, but it's forever going to be most popular as the film that people throw things at and can act as rowdy as they care to.
While I applaud ANYONE with the moxy to attempt the live stage version, they had better prepare themselves for the worst because that's what they're likely to get from any audience worth letting in.
If you are performing this show as live theater, you have to realize the cultural implications that you are inviting- that people are coming in prepared to throw lots of things, scream and sing responses to lines, and be raucous in general. Anyone deciding to put on Rocky Horror needs to be prepared for this kind of audience. While I agree with Sam that it bothers me when people treat theatrical productions as circuses, even if they're just talking through a performance, there's really no way to expect a quiet and respectful audience during any showing of Rocky Horror. That's just the nature of the show. That being said, I think that the prop bags are a good way for the theater to curtail some of the more disruptive responses while still allowing the audience to have some of the fun that they are used to associating with Rocky Horror.
To be honest, there are a lot of down sides to having that bag there, almost encouraging a messy rowdy audience. This is in addition to the rowdiness that the words "Rocky Horror" bring to the show. On the other hand, it is better to have controlled mayhem than have people having to get creative on their own terms. Anyway, I like the fact that the audience gets to participate a little more. "Hair" and "Spring Awakening" had a more incorporated audience and those shows were really successful. I think that people want to be involved and this just is a very literal way of being a part of the show. The actors and anyone that is working on the show can't take anything to heart and they should enter that atmosphere with that mind set. They also have to be really strict when it comes to the rules of the theater.
I think that it's a bad idea to change what the Rocky Horror traditions like they did here. What they are doing is lame comparatively and seems like a pointless way of trying to keep the house clean up to a minimum. While i do agree that it would not be great for the performer to have something thrown at them, still its Rocky Horror; What do you expect?
I think that the Rocky Horror "goodie bag" is not just a marvelous idea because throwing things and being loud is fun, but has been a tradition in many theaters during Saturday midnight performances. Actually, last Halloween, which somehow luckily wound up on a Saturday, was my first Rocky Horror "experience", I went to go see the midnight showing with live actors in downtown Manhattan. It was something I will never forget: the people were loud, I felt more than a little uncomfortable, but it was all worth it. Even though some of the "newspaper covering" and potty mouth name calling towards the screen actors was much less than normal, it made me feel like I was part of a cult tradition from decades past. And, being only equipped with a few sad sheets of newspaper, roll of toilet paper, I would have loved to have a pre-made prop bag full of all the viewing necessities. I by no means think that this prop throwing is rude or disrespectful- if anything it is honoring the eccentric people who have been devote viewing fans to this anything but polite rock-fabulous-musical.
I think the point of audience participation is to create a community within the Rocky Cult. But a large large part of the participation is the callbacks. I don't really even know how a stage version works without the movie in the background. It sounds close to the rocky horror experience if we can dress up and use props. But I don't think anyone goes to see RHPS for the plot or music, its the cult experience and freedom of expression. I go repeatedly because the callbacks are always different, the audience participation feels different, the strip tease during "Science Fiction/ Double Feature" is different, the cast switches up. I went to a show on the 4th of July where each cast member wore an Uncle Sam mask over their usual costumes and make up.
I don't know what RHPS is without all the things that make it RHPS. I wonder what the cult following thinks about the stage productions.
Also, the theatre I go to for RHPS sells prop bags for $1 at the beginning of each show, while the virgins are being initiated. They use them to control the mess as well as hazards. Like we are not allowed to use rice or fire (especially not at the same time, or it'll feel like the apocalypse). These types of controls enables the group to be allowed to perform each week without burdening the theatre. But there's a lot of props missing form the bags in this article, and I don't think they would be fun for people who have not been before.
You should know going the second you pick "Rocky Horror" as your show for your theater that there are going to be problems like this. I mean this show is a cult classic film that has a huge following and tradition that keeps growing. It's nice that they are trying to do something different and clean up easier but I just don't feel like people are going to follow the rules. It's "Rocky Horror" what do you expect??? People get really passionate about their cult films and especially one this huge with traditions and costumes and props involved there is just no way this is going to go over well.
It's interesting reading this piece after having a class that took a negative view of participatory theater. Perhaps its okay that in this instance the show isn't about a message, or about content, or storytelling. If people want to pay money to jump up and down, shout, throw things, then great. And if they enjoy doing it, and have a positive experience, more the better. I suppose for the rest of today I'll dislike participatory theatre. I don't particularly have any urge to throw things at people. But I do understand other people want to, so if the producing organization wants to facilitate that, groovy.
I think that this is a good compromise for the theatre to make. It still allows the audience to have their fun throwing things and making noise it just does it in a way that allows the actors not to get distracted or hurt. I think though that it is hard to fully regulate what people bring into a theatre and it will be hard for them to stop all other audience participation. I think that that is a fact people just have to accept when they decide to preform Rocky Horror
I can't image that the Rocky Horror experience would be the same with just these "approved" props. The whole point of Rocky Horror is the audience participation, a huge part of which is throwing rice and toast, and other "unsafe" props. Let's be honest here, Rocky Horror is not exactly the greatest show/ movie, the experience is what makes people keep going back, I know that's what made me keep going back. I would even understand if they made an announcement before the show and told people to not throw rice towards the stage and actors, but it seems ridiculous to me not allowing people to throw messy things. If you're doing Rocky Horror, you have to be willing to clean up after the mess that will be made.
Rocky Horror just wouldn't be Rocky Horror if there were no raucous audience throwing things. The show has somehow built up a culture where behavior that isn't usually tolerated in a theater becomes the expected norm. That's one thing that's so great and special about the show. It's not like any other theater experience, and it shouldn't be. I love that this is being embraced and expanded upon.
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