ROUND the corner from the theatre I spy a girl in a trashy silver mini-dress, torn fishnets and smudged mascara sparking up a spliff. At the entrance to the car park a stretch limo disgorges a wondrous assortment of cross-dressing party-goers.

Half an hour later I’m whooping it up in the stalls wearing a single surgical glove, waving a blue glow-stick and yelling at Kevin Clifton’s sister that she’s a slut.

For anyone who doesn’t know I should perhaps explain that the props were provided and the insult is all part of the expected, indeed required, audience banter.

But gosh the Rocky Horror Show does things to a normally well-behaved chap and this production is a particularly good version of this marvellously flamboyant rock ’n’ roll musical that is almost guaranteed to strip you of your inhibitions.

Amazingly it is now more than 45 years since Richard O’Brien scribbled the original idea for this show on a cigarette packet providing himself with a gold-plated pension and the rest of us with a show that will as far as I can see keep us all doing the Time Warp forever.

It has everything: geeks, transexuals, aliens and a nifty storyline about naive sweethearts Brad and Janet (Jake Small and Joanne Clifton) who make a big mistake when their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere by knocking on the door of a strange castle inhabited by mad bi-sexual scientist Frank N Furter (Stephen Webb)

They are soon trapped and stripped of their innocence by Frank and his motley crew led by spooky servants Riff-Raff and Magenta (Kristian Lavercombe and Laura Harrison). They soon discover that Frank has created a living being in his lab in the form of the gymnastic and perfectly muscled Rocky (Callum Evans), What could possibly go wrong?

Narrator Philip Franks trades information and insults with the audience as we find out. With superb performances all round and a sizzling hot live band the show rocks along for two hours of perfect entertainment. It runs at Bournemouth Pavilion until Saturday 26th October.

Jeremy Miles