THEATRE REVIEW: The Rocky Horror Show - at the Festival Theatre, Malvern, from Monday, May 9 to Saturday, May 14, 2016.

BAWDY? It most definitely is!

Bizarre? Taking it all at face value - it’s another yes.

And brilliant…..? Absolutely. Especially if you like your musicals loud, proud and more than a touch risqué.

Since Richard O’Brien’s creation brashly burst onto the theatrical scene in the early 1970s with its outlandish characters and storyline - well there is a whiff of a plot there somewhere, it has won countless adoring fans and held a fatal fascination for others who follow Rocky as if it were one of those religious cults.

Malvern on Monday night resembled a ritual reunion of Rocky followers. Rarely has the town seen so many in basques, fishnet tights and suspenders…. and those were just the men!

It’s one of the show’s traditions - if you are brave enough - to attend in character dress... be it Magenta, Brad, Riff Raff or the inimitable Frank-N-Furter, and it adds to the fun of this frantic, fantastic show.

It’s a brilliant, over-the-top creation, and this latest touring cast does it full justice.

Liam Tamne’s Frank-N-Furter is deliciously outrageous and evoked memories of Tim Curry in the original 1973 show when it was the hottest ticket in town.

Strong voice, suitable strutting and savagely smutty. It was quite a performance.

Splendid support too from Kristian Lavercombe’s sinister but riotous Riff Raff and his sinuous sister Magenta, played by the mesmerising long-limbed Kay Murphy.

Also impressive in the talented cast was Sophie Linder-Lee as the impish Columbia, while the key roles of Brad and Janet were played with just the right amount of humour and understatement by Diana Vickers and Ben Freeman.

It’s also vital the show has a top notch Narrator, as he is the one who has to deal with much of the audience flak, and in droll comedian Steve Punt this one has a gem. He rode and strode over the challenges in such a stylish and easy manner he had everyone on his side long before the madcap ending.

Be warned! The music is loud and pulsating. At times it rocked the theatre to its foundations, and sensitivities simply swill down the plughole during some considerable audience participation with several of the characters, especially one or two of the coarser interruptions of the Narrator.

It’s give and take, cut and thrust entertainment containing so much vibrancy and energy it has both the cast and the crowd bouncing off the walls by the end as a rapturous standing ovation spoke volumes and was totally merited.

Whoever said Worcestershire audiences, in particular Malvern ones were somewhat reserved and sedate, would have completely changed their minds by the time this excellent show was over.

If you can lay your hands on a ticket - Monday’s opening night was a full-house - get along and be outraged and entertained at the same time by this effervescent sexy display of sheer fun!