Interview: Laura Bird plays Magenta in The Rocky Horror Show

Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show returns to the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham this summer, and Wolverhampton-raised Laura Bird joins the cast in the dual roles of Usherette and Magenta.

An actor, mezzo soprano and dancer, Laura has worked as a voice artist, cabaret performer, and workshop leader. She has performed in productions including the 20th Anniversary UK Tour of We Will Rock You, and was lead vocalist in An Evening with Sir Tim Rice. Now, she takes on a dream role in The Rocky Horror Show, and ahead of the run in Birmingham, she spoke to Midlands Rainbow about becoming Magenta.

“Rocky had been on my radar for years, I'd always wanted to do the show, and specifically always wanted to play Magenta,” Laura tells Midlands Rainbow, “So, yeah, when the opportunity came around, I was thrilled.

"It's really, like, a massive family. I know everyone who works on Rocky says that, but it is like a big family, especially with our crew. There's a reason that people stay with it for years and years.”

Laura describes Magenta as “a spooky gal” and says she relates, “I'm a bit of a bit of a witchy gal” she admits, laughing.

“I just think she's such an iconic character. I find myself drawn to more mysterious, kind of characters that you can bring a bit of yourself to, whilst also, like, obviously honouring the really iconic portrayal from the film. It’s one you can really have fun with. There’re quite a few sections that you can improv, we've got real free reign with our director, Chris, to kind of do our own thing, especially with whoever's your riffraff, so you can really kind of find it together, and that's really nice."

Speaking about her favourite numbers in the show, Laura says: “I mean, you can't beat Time Warp. I think when the guitar chords start going and people realize that that's what's about to happen, you hear screams from the audience. Because I think even if you've never seen Rocky Horror before, everybody's danced to the Time Warp at a wedding or similar. So, everybody knows that song and the excitement that you feel is really cool, and you know you're about to just rock out for three minutes.

“I do also love bookending the show with Science Fiction Double Feature, because I can't say I'd massively listened to that song before, other than just knowing it was the start of the film, but I've loved being able to set the scene and have a little moment with the audience that's kind of outside the narrative of the show. I do love that, especially the reprise version at the end because it's just nice and calm, and you've had this mad 90 minutes, so it’s a moment of pause and a moment of breath, before it goes crazy for the finale again. So, selfishly, I really like that as well.”

Alongside the iconic musical numbers, The Rocky Horror Show is known for its interactive shout-out moments but these have recently received backlash, particularly in the United States where the Broadway production has tried to steer audiences away from this tradition.

Laura explains that balancing the audience interaction and respect for performers can be a tricky one.

It was really interested to read about the pushback in America, because the call-outs are a really British thing,” she says, “We've done this tour not only throughout the UK, but we're in Paris at the moment, and we've done Italy, Spain, and New Zealand, so we’ve experienced international audiences. On the whole, the shout-outs don't really happen there, unless there are some British fans that have come over, or there might be a few people in the front row, but on the whole, the shout-out are much less of a thing in different countries.

During rehearsals, the cast prepare for possible callouts, writing them into the script but Laura adds: “Nothing can really prepare you for it, it's different every night, so, if you're the kind of actor that likes to be kept on your toes, which I am, I love it.

“Every week I get surprised by new shout-outs, and particularly in different areas of the country, or if there's something political going on in the news, then sometimes people will just yell out a slightly different name or something else that they've made up that week. The fans are really creative.

Talking about Rocky Horror’s decades-long endurance, and it's appeal to LGBTQ+ people and other outsiders alike, Laura explains: “At its core, the show is just the ‘Don’t Dream It, Be It’ mantra. The fact that you can just turn up and you can wear what you want, you can sing along as loud as you want, you can do all the shout-outs, you can stand up, you can dance in the aisle, and all of that is encouraged; it really attracts such a wide demographic of people, of all ages.

“What's been really nice this time around with the tour is noticing that there's sort of like a new group of teenagers that have clearly just discovered Rocky. But then you've also got people who loved it in the 70s, and everyone in between. There's no one person that's a Rocky Horror fan. People come with their parents, and they'll come in stockings or suspenders, and their dad will be wearing the same thing, and that's just amazing,

“It seems like one of the rare shows where gender's not really, you know, binary, and people can just turn up wearing whatever they want. It's just a safe space for everyone.”

The Rocky Horror Show plays at The Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham from Monday 6th July until Saturday 11th July.

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