“It’s just a jump to the left, and then a step to the right. With your hand on your hips, you bring your knees in tight,” are lyrics known to many of us, sung at parties around the world. Luckily for fans, the Rocky Horror Show is shimmying on to the HMT stage as part of a UK tour.
Haley Flaherty is donning the pink dress for the Aberdeen leg of the tour, taking over from Diana Vickers. No stranger to the role of Janet, Haley played her in 2010 and in a live cinema recording last September. For her, the next three months will be “like putting on a pair of weird comfy slippers”.
Haley said: “It is so different from any other show and it is nice to be available when they ask me to come back.
“Every time you do a job you think it is the best or the favourite one. Then you do another one. My longest stint was in Matilda where I played Miss Honey for three-and-a-half years and that was a really special show.”
Janet starts off similar to Miss Honey – a sweet and innocent character. She then goes through a journey any actress would love to play, starting off as part of a 1950s ideal young couple before transforming.
“I get to play this minx with a feather boa and a corset,” said Haley.
“She starts off in this lovely pink dress and then she takes it off and has a white bra and a petticoat. Towards the end it is fishnet stockings and a sparkly red basque.
“It is fine for the girls because we have flesh tights on and really you wear less on the beach, but it is quite fun for the boys.
“At the end you are left wondering which way she is going to be – is she going to be her normal self or stay as this little minx. It is really great fun to play.”
Janet is not the only character to go through a transformation – the whole show is one big journey about self discovery. Brad Majors and his fiancee Janet Weiss are two clean-cut kids on their way to visit an old college professor. Car trouble leads them to a dark house and the strange antics of Dr Frank’n’furter.
“From the minute it starts it is non-stop,” said Haley.
“I think the fans make it what it is. There is no other show that has quite the following that Rocky does. You want to make sure that it is the version the director wants, that you want and also the version that they want to see. It is different in that respect from other shows.”
Rehearsals aren’t too intense for Haley since the last version of Rocky Horror she did was only last year. Singing rehearsals have already begun and a stint in Bournemouth with the rest of the cast will get her back up to scratch.
“The steps are still in my brain somewhere,” she said.
But what is it like playing a character who is so well known? Many ladies have played Janet since the show first appeared at the Royal Court Theatre in June 1973. Richard O’Brien’s musical has become a favourite in the world of rock’n’roll, where the added stockings make the roles different from the average West End play.
Haley said: “So many people have played Janet throughout the years. Susan Sarandon will always be my favourite. All the girls bring something different and there is always something different to watch.
Rocky Horror is at HMT Aberdeen from September 5 to 10. See www.aberdeenperformingarts.com
