Richard O'Brien returns to Christchurch to back fundraising for Isaac Theatre Royal rebuild

Rocky Horror Show creator Richard O'Brien will return to the Christchurch stage for a unique one-off show 'The Tran in Black All Hallows Frock 'n' Roll Show' on Friday 1st November to help raise funds for the rebuild of the city's famous Isaac Theatre Royal.

O'Brien explains that the show, at the Aurora Centre, will feature "(me) nattering away, picking up a guitar and hopefully entertaining everybody with stories and songs.

"And it would be perverse if I were not to sing The Time Warp, again.

"People would feel slightly cheated, wouldn't they? Break out the fishnets and come dressed delightfully - let's have a party."

All proceeds from the show will be donated directly to the Isaac Theatre Royal rebuild fund.

The Isaac Theatre Royal was badly damaged in the devastating 2011 earthquakes and despite being well on the way to its reopening in mid-2014, it still faces a $5 million to $6 million shortfall to complete the recovery works on time.

Richard O'Brien has had a close association with the Theatre's recovery and has been keeping up to date on progress since making a significant personal donation to the theatre's rebuild plans in 2012.

Famed as the writer of The Rocky Horror Show, in 2010 O'Brien performed for the first time onstage in New Zealand, playing The Narrator in the show.

The final show on that tour was in Christchurch at the Isaac Theatre Royal stage on 13th December 2010 which was also O'Brien's last performance anywhere in the world in the show he penned in the early 1970s.

The closing night climaxed with O'Brien rocking out on an electric guitar to a foot-stomping rendition of Rocky Horror's classic anthem The Time Warp.

At the end of the extended standing ovation O'Brien announced he would auction his Jean-Paul Gaultier denim tail jacket he had worn throughout the tour and Fender Stratocaster guitar, ultimately raising $5,000 for The Red Cross Mayoral Fund, set up at that time to aid recovery from the September 2010 earthquake which thankfully had left the theatre largely unscathed.

However, two months later the 22nd February 2011 quake caused widespread damage closing the Isaac Theatre Royal and the surrounding Christchurch CBD.

Richard O'Brien spent his teens and early 20s in Tauranga and Hamilton before moving to the United Kingdom in 1964. He returned to New Zealand recently to retire to Katikati in the Bay of Plenty and was finally granted New Zealand citizenship in December 2011.

He received a Master of Arts degree at a special conferment and dinner at Hamilton's Wintec in 2012 for his contribution to the arts in the Waikato.

At the time he stated that it was "splendid to finally be able to prove that my teachers were wrong about me!"

In December 2012, a new production of The Rocky Horror Show began a year-long worldwide tour to celebrate the show's 40th anniversary.

Tickets for 'The Tran in Black All Hallows Frock 'n' Roll Show', being held at the Aurora Centre in Christchurch on Friday 1st November, are on sale from www.ticketek.co.nz

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