SPOTLIGHT: Natasha Sutherland embraces her role as Narrator with experience and energy in cult musical THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW

Beverley Brommert

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Transitioning seamlessly from the subtleties of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night to the Gothic romp of THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW poses a formidable challenge to most actors, but the versatile and talented Natasha Sutherland is undaunted. Instead, she wholeheartedly embraces a role in ROCKY which could hardly be more different from that of the wily, engaging Maria in Twelfth Night: she is set to impersonate the austere Narrator.

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"Remember that icy disciplinarian, the headmistress every school-goer loved to hate?" she asks impishly. "That's the nature of my new character: plummy accent, charcoal grey skirt, heels, and polite brutality…" 

The traditionally gender-fluid Narrator in question is cast as decidedly female in this fresh take on the cult musical, a choice no doubt dictated by the insightful boldness one has come to associate with director Steven Stead. His runaway successes (the most recent being none other than Twelfth Night) confirm that a gift for the unexpected, judiciously applied, reaps sizeable rewards.

Like any conscientious artist, Sutherland takes her role seriously and has researched it to maximise authenticity: "I love looking into the milieu, the sub-text, the period, and the importance of the character in the work.

“In this case, the Narrator is an archetype of the 1950s, one who, as the antithesis of bling and fishnet stockings, stands in sharp contrast to the chaos of an age exhilarated by sci-fi B-movies, cartoons and sexual liberation. She occupies the liminal space between the anarchic whimsy of horror and those rationally  observing it (i.e. the audience), and as such is the glue that holds everything together.”

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She is further distanced by her speech, which has the dryness of documentary narrative as opposed to vivid colloquialism. Sutherland shrewdly comments that despite their obvious difference, Twelfth Night and THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW have some unexpected things in common, such as androgenous cross-dressing, and pervasive anarchy when reason is subverted by - in the case of the former, life under the Lord of Misrule in the festive season, and of the latter, a venturesome exploration of the bizarre. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

She cautions against taking this production of ROCKY too seriously, however. "In the end, it is simply a blast, a sensory juggernaut to be enjoyed to the hilt."

All promoted through a happy combination of experience and energy as professional actors like Sutherland and Craig Urbani (reprising Dr Frank-N-Furter) join forces with an extraordinary cast that includes fledgeling young professionals in delivering the triple threat with commitment and gusto, a creative process helped along  by relentless drilling from Musical Director Kevin Kraak and choreographers Naoline Quinzin and Duane Alexander.

Sutherland sums it up succinctly: “This THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW is an invitation to LET GO! And have uninhibited fun!"

THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW runs at Theatre on the Bay from 7 April to 31 May 2026. Tickets cost from R200 through Webtickets and the Theatre on the Bay box office on 0214383300. Please note the production carries an age restriction of PG16.