The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Susan Sarandon, Tim Curry (Frank-N-Furter) and Meatloaf play the leads in Jim Sharman’s sexually exuberant story of a professor sent from outer space – the planet Transylvania – to Earth. His assignment isn’t easy: Frank-N-Furter has been tasked with creating the perfect man – the ‘Rocky Horror’ of the title.

Fortunately he’s supported in his endeavour by a group of crazily clad real weirdos, who break out in transsexual song and dance at the drop of a hat. (Pay particular attention to bodybuilder ‘Rocky’ in his gold thong and boots.) The audience still sing along at full volume, five decades after the film’s first release. Numbers such as ‘Dammit Janet’, ‘Sweet Transvestite’, ‘I Can Make You a Man’ and ‘Wild and Untamed Thing' are accompanied by rice-throwing and water-pistol fights as the audience passionately engage with the characters on screen.Audience participationRichard O’Brien’s stage musical The Rocky Horror Show premièred at The Royal Court Theatre in London in 1973, and proved to be a long-running, sell-out success. The film adaptation has played in cinemas pretty much without interruption since its première in 1975, becoming the poster child for audience participation in film. So pack your water pistol, bring your rice, and join in, that’s what Rocky Horror is all about: freeing yourself from all that deadly passivity film audiences are always condemned to.

The screening on September 12 features entertainment by Frank's Freaks and plenty of audience participation.