This Halloween, the Mayfair Theatre is bringing back The Rocky Horror Picture Show in its full interactive form for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Since its release in 1975, Rocky Horror has become a cultural phenomenon and cult classic. For many, the film itself is the least interesting part of the screening experience.
Audience members come to the show dressed in fishnet stockings and corsets, throwing toast and playing cards at the screen while shouting out profane callbacks to the most iconic lines of the film.
Fans may bring toast, playing cards and toilet paper to this year’s screenings, but are asked not to bring rice or confetti.
A staple of Rocky Horror at the Mayfair is the shadow cast. Absent Friends Shadow Cast acts out the scenes as they happen on screen while encouraging audience participation.
“What makes Rocky so endearing and memorable in the annals of cinematic history is that the audiences have taken control of the movie itself,” Absent Friends leader Sam Kellerman said.
For Mayfair patron Stephanie Manwell, the incorporation of the Absent Friends Shadow Cast adds another layer of spectacle to the screenings.
“They teach you the inside jokes, the things to call back at the screen … it’s like a big party with your friends,” she said.
In 2021, the Mayfair adapted a non-interactive version of their Rocky Horror screenings to adhere to pandemic restrictions.
Mayfair co-owner Josh Stafford said a non-participatory version was something he had wanted to do for a while, but thought it would never work because people love the “screaming, throwing and dancing.”
“I thought it would be really fun to have a non-participation screening and it would almost be like this weird cosplay thing of pretending you’re in 1975, and it’s before Rocky Horror became Rocky Horror, and actually just sit and watch and listen to it as a movie, not just an event,” he said.
Stafford said he was skeptical about how the audience might react to the non-participation screenings, and thought they might “flash mob,” smuggle in alcohol or break pandemic restrictions.
Ultimately, he said the audience reacted well and followed the rules.
“Not only did it work, it reinstated my faith in humanity,” Stafford said.
Before the pandemic, the Mayfair held monthly screenings of Rocky Horror, and did not have a shadow cast prior to 2010. Kellerman recalls going to see Rocky Horror with his friends when it was first screened at the Mayfair.
In 2010, they went to every screening between July and October, dressing up and calling back at the screen. The Mayfair management asked if they would be willing to dress up as the characters and perform the musical numbers for the Halloween screenings.
Over the next year, they performed monthly and slowly added more members until they had a full nine-person cast.
“I’ve collected quite a large number of people who are willing to strut around in their underwear at midnight at the Mayfair,” Kellerman said.
Former cast members who never got a chance to do a farewell show due to the COVID-19 pandemic will be coming from across Canada to rejoin this year’s cast.
For cast members who have since moved on from the production, Kellerman said he hopes the shows this year will provide “a form of closure … on that chapter of their lives.”
“Halloween at the Mayfair and doing Rocky Horror is a symbol of home, a symbol of well-being, a fun space to be in with people that mean something,” Kellerman said.
The Absent Friends Shadow Cast is rehearsing for the upcoming Halloween shows. Kellerman said he and the other longtime cast members have the film memorized by now.
“I don’t even have to actually look at the screen,” he said.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show will be back at the Mayfair Oct. 28, 29 and 31. Tickets are available on the Mayfair’s website.
Featured image by Nicola Scodro.
