'Weird is welcome' at Stratford Festival's Rocky Horror Show

Forget your Sunday best; feather boas, corsets and fishnets are the dress code at Stratford Festival this season.

The company, known internationally for its Shakespeare repertory theatre, stepped outside its regular offering this season with a production of The Rocky Horror Show — the Richard O'Brien rock musical which inspired the cult-movie classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

The movie is legendary for the way audiences dress up, bring props and chime in with dialogue of their own during its duller moments. And though bringing your own rice to throw during the show's wedding scenes isn't allowed, the rest is encouraged. 

"This show relies on an audience. It's audience participation, it's a ying-yang kind of thing. We need each other to make the show the magic that it is," said Dan Chameroy, who plays Dr. Frank N. Furter, a role made famous by Tim Curry.

The call and response between the audience and actors on stage is a tricky thing to master, said Erica Peck, who plays Magenta and the Usherette — a character unique to the stage production.

"It's a dance, because it does happen every show but at different points. Some nights we might be used to hearing something, and then we don't hear it. We have to be so consistently on our toes.

"That's the biggest challenge. This show never feels like it's settled, you never feel like you know it and you're rolling. You cannot autopilot this show, because it's too sweaty and too rock and roll," said Peck.

The show draws fans from all over the province, including Sarah Wright and Marie Kozak from Toronto, who used to sneak out to see late-night showings when they were teens.

"I swear we were good kids," insisted Kozak.

The tradition started when Wright's mother was working nights as a nurse.

"We'd wait for my mom to leave for work at 10:30, then we'd get all dolled up and we'd sneak out after her, and go down to the midnight show!" recalled Wright, laughing.

"We'd go down to the Roxy Theatre on Danforth — I don't know how we got in, but we did. We just got hooked. It was so exciting and amazing. Every Friday and every Saturday for at least one summer."

Tammy Dobson, of Ottawa, has seen the movie "well over 100 times." She identified with it as a closeted youth, searching for a place where she would be welcomed.

"I am of the LGBTQ community and for me it was special because it was like 'oh my gosh, it is cool, look, it's there up on film!' "

"So there was some sort of acceptance there, for me," said Dobson. "Not that I was out in high school, but it meant something to me at the time. It was a kind of connection."

"There's a place for everybody in Rocky Horror," agreed Peck. "You just belong. In fact weird is welcome."

Stratford Festival wants people to feel that freedom to express, within reason.

While people are asked to leave the rice, squirt guns and toast at home, they can buy a $12 participation bag at the gift shop with sanctioned props and souvenirs.

"Those are real people up there. So if anything gets projected through the air toward the stage, the show will be stopped and the perpetrator will be seized by ushers, summarily dismembered and stored in the refrigerator with the remains of Eddie," reads the tongue-in-cheek warning on the show's website.

The Rocky Horror Show is on stage until at least Nov. 11, which means there will be a special Halloween production — just not at midnight. You'll have to hit the movie theatre for that experience.