Rocky Horror Show on the road to Dublin

“It’s not rocket science,” he reveals. “It’s very inclusive, it’s very easy to watch.

“1972-73 was a moment of change. Glam rock and overt sexuality was around, gay people were coming out and there was a ‘buzz’ in the air.

“There are certain parts of the world where we are a little bit more free to be ourselves. London is certainly one of them. Back in the ’70s you had gay bars, but now you don’t need to because if you walk into most bars in London there will be a gay man behind the bar. That is rather nice.

“It is a fairytale — we even like the nasty characters, we love the Cruella De Vil kind of character, Frank N Furter. The fact that it is such light-hearted naughtiness, combined with root fairy tales has a lot to do with its longevity.

“I was a recent father of my first child and out of work when I wrote the show. I have a very low-brow approach to life, I like Populist kinds of themes — comics and rock’n’roll and B movies.

“The plot and dialogue for The Rocky Horror Show are raids on populist things: from advertising, from comics, from B movies, from sci-fi. It’s a complete and utter raid upon all those elements; a joyous raid.”

Even though the movie came out in 1975, the stage show actually started in 1973 so the new run, which comes to Dublin’s Bord Gais Energy Theatre on January 30, marks an incredible and rare milestone for the popular show.

“The live show has an energy that the movie doesn’t have. Once some fans came up to me and said, ‘did you leave the gaps between the lines so that we the audience could say our lines?’ I said, ‘Well, OK yes’. But no we didn’t. The movie is a very surreal, almost dreamlike journey, the live show is far more rock and roll.”

The father of three continued: “The noise at the end of Rocky is wonderful — it is empowering and exhilarating at the same time it is quite joyous. Rocky never fails to deliver.”

• The Rocky Horror Show is at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre from Jan 30 to Feb 4 for a limited run.