TALKING TO ORE ODUBA
Fresh from training with Special Forces, former Newsround presenter and Strictly Come Dancing winner, Ore Oduba is on stage as Brad in this year’s Rocky Horror Show at G Live in Guildford. We caught up with the man himself to talk sing-a-longs, stockings and the S.A.S…
YOU FULFIL THE ROLE OF BRAD IN THIS YEARS ROCKY HORROR SHOW – HOW HAS THE EXPERIENCE ON STAGE BEEN FOR YOU SO FAR?
Do you know what? It’s been amazing. What we were coming off the back of, I appreciate my job more than I ever have. What was so amazing is that not only the cast, the crew, the band and everybody involved with the production have been so desperate to have it back in their lives. When we came back out on stage and saw the audience lining up in their droves, all dressed up in all their Rocky Horror gear – they had missed it just as much as us and what that means is that you get this meeting in the middle in the theatre of everybody just wanting to have the best time. That energy is so special; it’s like nothing else. It’s been amazing.
ADORED BY MILLIONS FOR DECADES, THE SHOW HAS A COMMITTED CULT FOLLOWING – HAVE YOU ALWAYS BEEN A FAN? WHAT ARE YOUR EARLIEST MEMORIES OF THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW?
My first time watching the film in its entirety was only last Christmas. I was offered the part around Christmas time, and I thought I should probably watch the movie. I’ve seen the theatre production before, but it was my wife in many ways – it’s always my wife who has the last word, she is the boss – and her family love Rocky Horror, they’ve been watching it for decades. So for her, the idea of me wandering around on stage in my pants, she thought, was hilarious. She was like, “you’ve got to do the show”. I couldn’t turn it down.
It is iconic. It’s nearly 50 years that the show has been running, and I really feel that it has never been more relevant than it is now. There’s a lot of themes in there about identity, about being free to be who you are, about escape and leaving your inhibitions at the door. Right now, we’re looking out at the audiences, and there are late teenagers in there, kids coming with their parents, and the older generation who watched it back in the day. So it’s a really cross-generational show where everybody has something that they can take out from it.
And then there’s the set, the music and the costume on top of it – it’s the full package.
IT’S OBVIOUSLY BEEN A TOUGH TIME FOR ALL THOSE CONCERNED IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY, INCLUDING THE AUDIENCES (BE IT CANCELLED SHOWS, WEARING MASKS ETC.) – HOW HAS AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION AND REACTION BEEN SO FAR ON THE TOUR?
Do you know what? There are nights that it feels like we’re heading a rock concert. The reaction is so overwhelming overnight. The curtain comes up, and people go mad. So mad. I don’t know if it had been different before lockdown; as I said, there’s this shared appreciation for theatre finally being back in our lives and a show that we desperately love, that we know is going to make us feel and help us escape and something that we can look forward to that we haven’t had for a really long time.
You get everybody going all out. Audience and cast alike on the night – that’s pretty wicked.
AUDIENCES HAVE JUST SEEN YOU ON THE TV SCREENS APPEARING IN CELEBRITY SAS WHO DARES WINS – HOW WAS THAT EXPERIENCE, AND HOW HAS IT PREPARED YOU FOR YOUR ADVENTURES WITH THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW?
Hahahaha! If only I could have taken my heels to the Scottish Hebrides. I’m trying to think of the parallels between being in the special forces recruitment process and the Rocky Horror Show. You might be surprised, but I’m struggling a little bit, but both of them came at a very good time in my life.
We filmed SAS in October last year, and things were all looking a bit down. We were all questioning how we were living our lives and various things. I did that show, not really knowing what I was going to take out of it, but being willing to put myself on the line and be exposed to myself at my most vulnerable; what I fear the most, my weaknesses, and see how I react to them. Across the board, all 12 of us, just to get on to that start line was the bravest thing. My entire life has changed after that period. When you spend time with any Special Forces, let alone five of them who have over 100 years of service between them – it is mad.
When you have that perspective, it can’t not change your life, added to all the physicality and all the psychological you have to go through – it changed me as a person.
Before lockdown, I might not have taken on a show like Rocky Horror, I might have thought it was too left field for me, but you know, in many ways, lockdown gave us all the perspective of, let’s stop living our lives for other people – let’s focus on the things that make us happy, the people we care about and not staying in someone else’s lane.
Thankfully this has been the perfect way to emerge from lockdown – wearing a corset, stockings, heels and suspenders.
ROCKY HORROR SHOW / DECEMBER 21 – JANUARY 1 / G LIVE GUILDFORD / GET TICKETS