"It's madness, but in the best way!" Scottish star of The Rocky Horror Show, Ryan Carter-Wilson on his journey from Dunblane to working with Australian superstar Jason Donovan
Anticipation is building as Richard O'Brien's legendary rock n roll musical The Rocky Horror Show returns to Glasgow this month. The UK Tour of the ever-popular, wild and wonderful musical arrives at the Glasgow Pavilion Theatre from 28th October - 2nd November 2024. With an international all-star cast, including Jason Donovan in the iconic role of Dr Frank-n-Furter, Scottish actor Ryan Carter-Wilson finds himself a long way from Dunblane, time-warping with the Transylvanians across the UK.
I sat down with Ryan and asked him about the challenges of training to be a theatre professional in Scotland, and encouraged him to spill some Rocky Horror backstage secrets. Read on to find out what audiences can expect as the Rocky Horror Show returns to Scotland this month.
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Ryan Carter-Wilson interview: Rocky Horror Show UK Tour cast 2024 / 2025
Hi Ryan. Lovely to meet you! So how did you go from the small town of Dunblane in central Scotland to touring all over the UK with a show that's been seen by over 35 million people? Tell us about your career journey.
I'm really fortunate to come from Dunblane as I had Rubber Chicken Theatre - they're the reason I'm doing theatre now. I was never really into theatre growing up; I was into music and playing guitar. But when I was 16 my friend Ross encouraged me to audition with him for Rubber Chicken's production of Grease. I was really unsure about the whole thing! But I was persuaded to go along and I ended up getting the part of Danny! I thought "Ok, this is happening." From that point on, I spent the rest of my time when I was in Dunblane doing theatre groups and productions with Rubber Chicken. It's a real mix of age groups from tiny tots to adults at Rubber Chicken - everyone is involved working towards putting on a big performance. Over the two years I was with them I did around 16 shows which is incredible. I would recommend Rubber Chicken to anyone in Dunblane or the surrounding areas. Look them up! [I did! Here's their website for more info https://rubberchickentheatre.co.uk/]
They sound like a fantastic group providing wonderful opportunities for the community. But how did you find it when you wanted to pursue a professional career in theatre? Did you find you had opportunities to train in Scotland? Why did you go to London?
There are opportunities in Scotland but undoubtedly fewer than in London. Some drama schools take a lot of students from abroad too and they're really difficult to get in to for local kids. There's maybe only 3 or 4 professional drama schools in Scotland, but in London there's quite a lot. In all honesty, one of the reasons I went to London was I didn't get in anywhere in Scotland! (Editor's note: Ryan trained at Italia Coni in London - one of the best musical theatre schools in the UK.) I'm very lucky to have got into Italia Conti - it is an amazing school. For anyone looking to study musical theatre, Italia Conti was great; I had an incredible time there and the teachers were brilliant. I'm still in touch with them now and I go back regularly and they still help me out.
So from Scotland to London, and now you're doing UK Tours. I read you were in the recent Jersey Boys UK tour: Was that your first touring experience? How did you find the travelling, the different theatres?
It was! Jersey Boys was amazing - it was my first professional role out of drama school and I was a swing on that tour. I had a great time, but I was definitely thrown in at the deep end. I covered other roles, including Frankie Valli. Actually my first time going on for Frankie was on the last Saturday night show of our 3 week run at the King's Theatre in Glasgow. To this day, it's still one of the best experiences of my life. It was magic. To say not only that I went on for that role, but to do it in Scotland, was incredible.
Yes! Our audiences are legendary. That must've been so special. Congratulations.
Now you're on tour with Rocky Horror: What was it that attracted you to the Rocky Horror Show?
Funnily enough, when I was in Rubber Chicken Theatre when I was younger, they were all massive Rocky Horror fans - so growing up I'd seen a lot and heard a lot about Rocky Horror. When I got the chance to audition for it, I was so excited and I'm really lucky to be a part of it. I was a swing on the previous tour and now I'm a Phantom covering a few different roles. It's such a special show - it's all about having a good time and accepting people for who you are. Whoever comes along you'll always be accepted. It's just magic, really special and I feel very blessed to not only be a part of it, but to have been asked to come back and do it again.
For anyone who doesn't know Rocky Horror, can you tell us what the show is about and what the role of a Phantom is?
It's mad! You need to come and see the show to fully experience all of it, but to sum it up without saying too much: Brad and Janet are our protagonists and they've just got engaged. They're driving to visit their friend Dr Everett Scott who was their science teacher growing up, but on the way their car breaks down and they go to get help in a castle. In the castle they meet a group of characters that are crazy and they end up having a wild night and meeting Frank n Furter who is.... an incredibly brilliant character! But that's all I can say without ruining it. It's madness, but in the best way. It's a party from start to finish. And one of the most exciting things is there's a lot of audience participation.
The Phantoms: The phantoms are these ghoulish characters that are doing all the errands of Frank n Furter - the big boss. Our choreographer Nathan (Nathan M. Wright) described the phantoms in a really cool way: he described the phantoms as the five fingers of Frank. Each of us is a finger. We are seen but not heard. They're a really fun role to play. Nathan also told us to "find your own phantom" - be who you want to be. It's lots of fun to play on stage. And all of us phantoms we get to cover other roles in the show too which is really exciting. I'm lucky, I cover The Narrator. I actually have some scheduled Narrator shows on the Friday and Saturday of the Glasgow Pavilion dates next week, so I'm really excited for that. To play that role in front of a Glaswegian audience - I'm buzzing! Don't get me wrong it'll be very scary, but also very exciting.
Wow, yes... You'll get lots back from the Glasgow audiences! Good luck! :)
So you've performed at the Glasgow Pavilion Theatre before with the previous Rocky Horror tour in January this year - the 50th anniversary production. Is that the only time you've played at the Pavilion?
Yes; I'd not really heard of many shows going to the Pavilion before, so now that it's been taken over by Trafalgar Theatres it's really exciting to see bigger shows now going there. It's nice that there's another theatre being supported in Glasgow and that a massive group like Trafalgar are supporting theatre in Glasgow.
Exactly! Will you still be part of the Rocky tour when it heads to Edinburgh Playhouse in January 2025? That's one of the biggest theatres in the UK - have you ever performed at that theatre?
I've never performed in Edinburgh at all! So I'm so excited to be going to Edinburgh. The Playhouse is massive and so beautiful, so it'll be really exciting to perform there. That's what so special about the Rocky Horror Show: It could be performed to 50 people in a tiny wee room or it could be performed to 3000 people at the Edinburgh Playhouse and it just works! It's about inclusivity and involving the audience no matter how many of them there are. It's really exciting.
What's your favourite scene to perform in the Rocky Horror Show?
My favourite song is 'Over at the Frankenstein Place' - there's just so much going on, I love the lyrics and it's the first time the phantoms are all on stage together. We are guiding Brad and Janet to the castle, and Riff Raff shows up in the moon (Editor's note: this is also my favourite part of the entire show! Ryan has good taste :)) It's incredible, and our Riff Raff now Job Greuter - oh my goodness, his section in the moon is spectacular. it's very different to how it's been done before. A lot of people love that moment in this show; I'd encourage people to come along and see how Job does it.
But favourite scene? Oh I know, t's the lab scene! We have the marvellous Jason Donovan as our Frank n Furter on this tour and he is so brilliant at playing Frank but he's also so playful. He changes up the lab scene every night and plays with all the people in it, so you'll never see the exact same show twice. It's really cool and a lot of fun.
What's the most difficult scene for you to play?
I cover Riff Raff, and there's a confrontational scene at the end of the show - the penultimate scene - and it's a real shift in how you see Riff Raff physically and vocally. I don't want to spoil anything for audiences, but for me that's probably the most challenging scene to perform.
Wow, so you are covering The Narrator AND Riff Raff on this tour. But if you had the chance to play ANY character in Rocky Horror, who would that be?
Columbia! Our Columbia Jayme-Lee (Jayme-Lee Zanoncelli) she is so, so good. Columbia is brilliant, she is such a positive character throughout the entire show and it's a great part. She also has a freak-out at the end which I'd love to do.
I've seen the Rocky Horror Show a number of times over the past 30 years, in various theatres and with various casts across the country. As a fan, are there any backstage secrets that you can tell me that I may not know?
One thing that I do find really special about the set for this show, is that the car and the castle doors used at the beginning - they don't rotate, the audience never sees the back of them - the backs of both those pieces have been signed by every Rocky Horror cast there's been. They are covered with signatures and drawings, and the audiences never get to see that. It's like a cast secret. The show has been around since 1973 so it's not the same set obviously - but it is old and is a piece of Rocky Horror history. Also the back of the car has a big Richard O'Brien signature too! So it's really lovely when we're performing with this lovely new cast for this new 2024/25 tour - we have a part of all the old casts with us on stage as well. They're all still a part of it. No one ever really leaves Rocky Horror.
Speaking of the cast: you're working with Jason Donovan on this show. What's he like to work with?
Jason is brilliant to work with. He's such a playful actor and a brilliant performer. His Frank is incredible. He does this amazing thing where he goes from playing around to becoming really serious in a split second. The way he can change a scene every night is also something to be marvelled at. It's a lot of fun to be on stage with him as he reacts in so many different ways, but always in an honest way that has the best intentions for the show. He's also very proactive in standing up for the cast and at speaking out for us if there's ever anything that we need. It's great working with Jason to be honest!
Ok final questions: I asked you who your dream role would be in Rocky Horror, but who would be your dream role to play in theatre? In any show?
I'd love to give the MC in Cabaret a go! Or Beetlejuice. I like characters that are a little bit weird.
Why should audiences come and see the Rocky Horror Show?
There's so many reasons! It's a party from start to finish. It's brilliant, it's willd, it's good music and it's rock n roll! It's inclusive; it's about accepting people for their authentic true self. Everybody's welcome at the Rocky Horror Show whether it's your first time or your 50th time, whether you've dressed up and are doing the shout outs or not -
it's just about coming along and being part of a community and having a good time. That's why it has lasted so long: because Rocky Horror is a show for everybody.
Well said!
Thank you to Ryan Carter-Wilson for his time and to the teams at Rocky Horror and Glasgow Pavilion Theatre for organising this interview.
Catch Ryan, Jason and the whole cast on tour across the UK now. Further Rocky Horror casting details are here.
Rocky Horror Show upcoming Scottish dates:
📍 The Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow 28 Oct - 02 Nov 2024 | Box Office on 0141 332 1846 or website
📍 Edinburgh Playhouse Theatre 20 - 25 January 2025 | www.atgtickets.com/edinburgh-playhouse
📍 Full UK Tour dates can he found here: https://rockyhorror.co.uk/tour-dates
Ryan Carter-Wilson interview, Rocky Horror Show cast 2024 / 2025, Rocky Horror Show UK Tour news.
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