Culture

Jordan Peele made waves with his 2017 directorial debut Get Out, a macabre, modern take on America’s relationship with race that not only had huge box office success but earned him an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Not without its flaws, Get Out is still a tough act to follow. Us, despite its abstruse concept, finds Peele extending his twisted breadth and setting a seriously high benchmark for his peers.

Before last night I’d managed 25 years on this planet without watching The Rocky Horror Show on stage or screen. I don’t mean to imply that I was averse; it’s just one of those things I never got to. Effete aesthete that I am I knew I ought to rectify this lacuna. Whether or not one is likely to be seduced by the pop-culture cultiness of it all, one has to know what the proverbial fuss is all about. About 12 seconds in I found out.

Mayor Goodman has been assassinated. And so has his dog. Contract killer Macheath has just married Pretty Polly Peachum and Mr and Mrs Peachum aren’t happy. Not one bit.