Billed as “A New Satirical Musical” on “The Celebration of Kindness Tour”, Richard O’Brien’s The Kingdom of Bling offers a salutary and timely folk tale in the tortuous run-up to the looming USA presidential election. Backed by Musical Director Zac Johns on keys, guitarist Ben White and drummer Emerson McCullough, a cast of nine manifest the tale on mics, styled as a radio play with songs.

From his antique chair, Richard O’Brien as the narrator, takes us to “a time of confusion, when so many madly, strange beliefs collide. A time when kindness had been demonised …”

A Mother – beautifully sung by Rima Te Wiata – regales her Twins (William Kelly and Gemma Lane) with a tale of Dragons at the School of Scare. There are references to breadcrumbs and a gingerbread house, and exhortations to keep their eyes wide open when they wander into the unknown …

A Giant (Justin Rogers) confronts the Twins with four doors to choose from and the one they choose takes them up a hill to the gates of the city: the eponymous Kingdom. Justin, Paul Barrett and Patrick Kelly manifest the sadistic nature of this place in a resonant blend of voices. Paul (who directed the show) also plays a Sage and Patrick plays someone called Buffers.

Bryony Skillington becomes a “woman of privilege” who questions the Twins. It emerges they are on a quest to find their journalist father, who has gone missing. The woman introduces them to ‘The Boss’, her father, known as The He. The audience thrills at their instant recognition of Nic Kyle’s blue-suited ‘king’-figure, speaking semi-coherently in a patronising tone while his hands play an invisible accordion. His Public Relations guy, Mr Fox, is played by Justin with an Australian accent (of course).

Countless Trumpian tropes ripple through the text and lyrics as the toxicity of their strategies for mesmerising the masses is dramatised. The politics of fear and the insidiousness of self-interest and greed permeate the plot. In the tradition of many folk tales and nursery rhymes, The Kingdom of Bling codifies reality in a fictional form that allows us to recognise and enjoy the satire while its creators avoid lawsuits (in the old days the penalties might have been torture and beheading).

It’s Bryony’s ‘Daughter’ who – in an Andrew Lloyd Webber-esque song – declares “it’s time to say cut, it’s time to wake up” as an alternative to “staying asleep, sleepwalking like sheep.” And the children do wake up, in their beds. The fate of their father is left for us to consider. The story is not yet resolved. Will the cry, “Never again!” be heeded?

As an ensemble the highly skilled cast has conjured a cautionary tale for our times that aligns us once more to values that seem to be in jeopardy – despite those Jacinda-led days, not so long ago, when we truly seemed to agree collective kindness was the way forward. What malign forces have declared, “Never again!” to that and how do we stand up to them?

After interval the format changes to a Q&A session where Bryony plucks ‘Questions for Richard’ from a box that was in the foyer for us to add to. We get interesting insights into how The Rocky Horror Show came into being, Richard’s opinions of various music genres and ‘Art’ in its visual form – which, he claims, is the only art that can get away with presenting crap and still be called art. Aspects of his career are traversed via ‘in-the-know’ questions about Shock Treatment, The Crystal Maze and Mephistopheles Smith – the latter provoking his strong opinions about religious figures like Abraham, The Pope and Brian Tamaki.

After an interlude where Richard sings ‘Super Heroes’ from Rocky Horror, we hear his views on his ‘Bronze in the Tron’ statue, why it took 50 years for him to return from his one-year working holiday in the UK (where he was born before the family emigrated to NZ as £10 Poms) and being part of the first generation to be called a ‘teenager’. We discover this tour has included staying in motels “designed by Stalin” and where he bought his long black riding boots for only $130.  

I can’t help but wonder how this random fandom phase of the show is eroding the impact of what we witnessed earlier. Is it tacked on because someone decreed it had to run two hours for us to feel it was worth it, or is the idea to exemplify the kindness the tour aims to celebrate? It just doesn’t feel very kind that the other cast members (except the kids and musicians) are obliged to sit there and listen to stories they’ve doubtless heard before more than once. While most of the anecdotes are charming and interesting in their own way, less would have been more.

At last the hitherto underutilised Rima Te Wiata gets to deliver, exquisitely, one of Richard’s children’s poems: ‘A Little Star’. Then – after a couple more unnecessary Qs and As – everyone sings ‘Over At The Frankenstein Place/There’s a Light’ from Rocky Horror. And to top it all off, we all get to stand and join in the iconic ‘Time Warp’ song led in his inimitable way by its originator, Richard O’Brien, with Rima and Bryony stepping up strongly for the solo verses.

Elation fills the Opera House. A good feeling does prevail. But have we sleep-walked into this state – or is that question unkind? It is, of course, extremely kind that the above-costs proceeds of this tour of The Kingdom of Bling are being donated to Starship Children’s Hospital.

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The large audience inside the Bruce Mason Centre is buzzing as it awaits the start of The Kingdom of Bling. Of course, the biggest drawcard is the writer and performer Richard O’Brien, and it’s clear that the audience awaits his appearance with great anticipation.

The stage is set up with instruments for a 3-piece band (musical director Zac Johns, guitarist Ben White and drummer Emerson McCullough), a number of chairs and microphones, and a beautiful leather wingback chair. There are also four long gauzes at the back of the stage that hold light beautifully throughout the show, reflecting emotions and enhancing aspects of the story.

We are told that the show was originally written as a one-act radio play, and so this setting makes sense. It does give my younger companion some concern that the show may not be ‘active’ enough to hold his attention, but once the show begins, I am quickly swept into the story.

As the Narrator, O’Brien welcomes us into the show with his distinctive, soothing voice and an invitation to play along with his story. He speaks directly to us, breaking the fourth wall and making us an integral part of the show. What stands out immediately is the poetic, rhythmic and witty language that O’Brien has created which quickly draws us into a fairytale, but very recognisable, world.

Show information tells us that ‘The Kingdom of Bling is set in “a time of confusion, when so many madly, strange beliefs collide. A time when kindness had been demonised, while crafty blindness wined and dined in a world it had divided”. This is a lovely example of the way that O’Brien uses rhyme and rhythm to enhance the show’s message, and his cast do a fantastic job in delivering it.

Rima Te Wiata as The Mother performs the first song of the show, telling us a tale of dragons and hope in the face of selfishness and cruelty, where hope is ultimately forced to hide and bide its time. The narration and this first song set the tone of the show – satirical and yet also magical and allegorical. In the second part of the show (more on that shortly) O’Brien himself describes The Kingdom of Bling as a ‘satirical fairytale punctuated by a few songs’, which is an accurate description, but one that doesn’t quite capture the skill of the fairytale or the bitingness of the satire.

Listening intently to the tale and the song are two children (William Kelly and Hermione Sparks at this performance), the fraternal twins who dream the story of The Kingdom of Bling into existence.

On their dream journey, the twins meet a range of characters, including The Sage (Paul Barrett), some giants (including Justin Rogers and Patrick Kelly); some trolls, some patriotic guards who believe their view is the only important one; and a bunch of people who just want to agree with everything they’re told.

Eventually, the children are brought in front of The ‘He’ (Nic Kyle). Kyle uses economical gestures and facial expressions to give a pitch-perfect, and seemingly effortless, Trump impersonation. The audience loves this performance, reveling in the accuracy of the ridiculousness that spews from the character’s mouth. We recognise many of Trump’s accusations and fixations, while an unctuous Aussie Mr Fox (Justin Rogers) enables the Trumpian vitriol while trying to spin all circumstances into favourable ones.

Despite my companion telling me that ‘Trump jokes are so 2019’, O’Brien’s perspective clearly hits the mark with this audience, exposing the lack of empathy and care that runs through too much of the political landscape, while feeling frighteningly topical with the next American election so close.

The performers also hit the mark, showing fantastic dexterity in the way they morph from character to character. Seeing the two children so embattled by The ‘He’ and Mr Fox, The Daughter (Bryony Skillington) attempts to find another way forward, but her empathy is ignored.

Ultimately, the children are able to wake up and hope ‘never again’ to dream such a dream. Their final line seems to me to be symbolic of the hope that the next generation can see a way forward more clearly, sweeping away vitriol and blame and focusing on empathy.

As a show, The Kingdom of Bling leaves me wanting to see a more developed version with full staging allowing this great team to expand the material into a full-scale musical. The songs definitely deserve to be listened to again and we can learn much about our current situation from this darkly witty fantasy.

After an interval, the second part of the show is a Q&A, hosted with humour and joy by Skillington, where O’Brien responds to questions from the audience. There are a few dud questions, but also some that allow O’Brien to share stories of his early career or to take aim at current events. His scathing take on Brian Tamaki has me in stitches and has the rest of the audience responding enthusiastically.

O’Brien is a great entertainer, and this part of the show gives us a glimpse at his creativity. Ending with a very well-known song delivered with great energy, this is a truly original experience, and one that I am very grateful for.

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The excitement in the Isaac Theatre Royal is palpable, anticipation is buzzing in the air. Hundreds of people jazzed to be there, fizzing for the chance to see and hear Richard O’Brien in his element.

The show is like no other. The first act is a new fantasy rock musical, presented in the style of a radio play; the second is a Q and A session with Richard where he waxes lyrically about his life, adventures and who he’s had the pleasure to share a ‘jazz cigarette’ with.

The moment the lights dim, we are swept into the fantasy world of The Kingdom of Bling. The performers, each one radiating energy, enter the stage with an infectious enthusiasm. The applause for Richard O’Brien is rapturous. His eyes are intense, his demeanour relaxed, and his voice incredibly soothing. It’s clear from the start that this show is about storytelling wrapped in layers of satire and with a bit of magic.

Richard provides the narration and acts as a sort of omniscient being who oversees all the action. The style of story reminds me of a Terry Pratchett book, with a fully realised fantasy world emerging and a very specific and unique cadence of language being delivered. The plot mixes elements of Alice In Wonderland, with A Wrinkle In Time, and mashes all of that together with traces of Hansel and Gretel.

The music, energetically delivered by a brilliant three-piece rock band, pulses through the theatre. Each song truly rocks the house. They all have clever lyrics, thumping beats, and rocking rhythms. I would have loved a programme (even in digital form) so I could better remember their titles. My favourite was ‘Life Is a Gamble’, delivered like a Las Vegas style swing number, but there were many different styles of music included which was a nice touch.

Each character is wonderfully exaggerated – except the two children (played beautifully earnestly by Carla Ladstaetter and Barnaby Domigan – representing various facets of our society’s obsession with greed, materialism and ego. I can’t help but chuckle at some of the over-the-top portrayals that are both entertaining and thought-provoking.

The performances are uniformly strong and this cast is made up of the highest calibre of talent. There are some real heavy hitters here, and it is awesome to see such an array of Aotearoa’s finest bringing this new work to life. My only regret is that I would have loved to hear more from Rima Te Wiata.

The pacing of the show keeps me engaged throughout, with well-timed comedic interludes that provide much-needed levity throughout what feels at times like a scary bedtime story. I’d love to see this show continue to be developed, and maybe one day it’ll become a full-scale musical: with sets, costumes and a second act.

The show has no set to speak of, since it is being presented like a radio play is doesn’t need one; but there is a tremendous use of colour and texture illuminating four long gathered gauzes at the back. It is a subtle choice which provides really high impact. This use of light and colour elevates the overall atmosphere throughout the fantasy story, and then enhances the drama of Richard’s true stories in the second half.

The creative team, cast, and crew have crafted a work that sparkles with wit and wisdom. But it is the Q and A in the second half which really scratches my itch. Hearing Richard play an acoustic version of ‘’Superheroes’ from Rocky Horror is the highlight of the night for me. And being able to say I danced ‘The Time Warp’ with the OG Riff-Raff is truly the cherry on top!

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